Be Be Your Love: You Do It To Yourself
by syd-monpeu
Summary: Part 6 - Derek and Addison attempt to rekindle their prior relationship, while again maintaining their current ones. However, this time around it's not quite so easy to avoid all the little complications they have created for themselves. Ch7:Addek/MerDer
1. The Tracks of My Tears

I told you I'd get bored.

So. Here is the deal. 7 chapters, we'll see how far into the summer that gets us (probably not far cause I'm already starting to work on chapter 3), but this section is ending in 7 chapters. I have it all outlined and I'm pretty damn excited about it. There is more Mark and Sydney in this one (I've been affectionately calling them Marksy) more Addex, Callie is getting her passive agressive bitch face on, MerDer are nesting, Geoffrey and Addison are quickly becoming an old married couple (but not married) and Addek are just ignoring all of the above. I LOVE IT. I don't think I have been this excited for a section since… the… fourth(?) one.

Anyone, I always feel just a little more stressed about posting the first chapter of a section, I feel that there is so much it needs to accomplish, but I've been poking at this and complaining about it to anyone that will listen for like a week now.

Oh, the title song for this are perfect. _Just_ by Radiohead is the most perfect thing ever for this section, and _Tracks of My Tears_ from the new Dolly Parton CD (Backwoods Barbie) for this chapter… FANTASTIC. And don't be surprised if more Dolly songs show up, I love her. But ya, you guys should go get those songs and listen to them. They are perfect I tell you.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Addison blinked quickly and fell silent as a soft knock came from the door. Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth to hold back her tears, she sat up from her huddled state on the floor.

There was another knock at the door.

She rose unsteadily to her feet and padded over to the door, peeking out before swinging it open and wrapping her arms around Alex's neck, she was to tired crying again.

"Addison," he circled his arms around her waist and backed her into the room and kicked the door closed behind him, "What happened?"

She sobbed once, her knees buckling slightly beneath her so he had to hold her tighter to keep her upright. He walked her over to the bed and sat her on the edge and knelt in front of her entangling her arms from around his neck and holding them in his hands.

"Add," he repeated, "What's wrong?"

She sniffled, taking deep breaths as she tried to calm herself.

Alex glanced around the room –– disheveled bed, clothes littering the floor, Addison's purse spilt all over the floor –– and began to get an idea of what was going on.

"Where's Derek?"

Her face crumpled and she stared up at the ceiling, alternating between holding her breath and panting heavily. "We were just talking and he said his chest hurt and…"

"Talking? Addison––"

She began crying anew.

Alex sighed and moved up to sit beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders while she cried.

"I called 911 and they took him away," she buried her face in his chest, "I didn't know what else to do."

"Where did they take him?"

"Mercy. I made them promise."

"Okay," he pulled away slightly, pushing her hair out of her face and rubbing his thumb over her cheek until she calmed down a bit.

"Does Meredith know?"

She shook her head, "I just called you."

"Okay," he said again, glancing around the room again, "I'll call Meredith."

She gripped his hand tightly and wouldn't let go, "Call Mark. Derek said to call Mark."

"Mark? Addison," he tilted her face up to face him, "You can't hide this anymore. Okay? It's over. People are going to know. Your in a hotel room Addison, people are going to figure it out."

"I promised Derek I'd call Mark," she said softly, her tears temporarily staunched.

"Fine," Alex agreed, "But, that's not going to change anything."

Addison nodded, bending at the waist to bury her face against her knees.

"Hey," he rubbed her back, "Why don't you shower while I make these phone calls. You'll feel better."

She nodded but didn't move.

He took her hand and led her into the bathroom, seating her on the edge of the small bench beside the shower, he turned the shower to a barely comfortable scalding hot and turned back to her, "Can you take it from here?"

She nodded and started automatically undoing buttons.

Alex gently kissed her forehead and pulled a few towels off the shelf over her head.

"Don't leave."

He bent down to look at her, she was trembling ever so slightly, "Yeah. Okay."

He turned his back politely as she undressed and stepped into the shower, then pulled out his phone.

"Sloan."

"It's Alex Karev. Listen –– Derek's been taken to Mercy West. Something to do with his heart."

"Shit," Mark swore, "What happened?"

"I don't know, I'm at a hotel downtown with Addison. She called 911 and me. And I'm calling you."

There was a long silence on Marks end of the line, "Syd's at the hospital with Meredith, I'll get her to track her down and I'll go get her. Shit. A hotel." There was another long pause, "I'm not covering for them this time."

"I don't think you can."

Mark was silent a long moment. "How's Addison?"

"She's freaking out. I calmed her down enough to get in the shower but––" he glanced at the shower, he could just barely make her out as she leaned against the tile with her hands over her face, "She's a mess."

"Let her raid the mini-bar. I'll call Mercy, Meredith and then call you back."

"Thanks," Alex said, but Mark had already hung up.

XXXX

"Sydney Heron-Sloan."

"Track down Meredith. Derek's in the hospital. I'll be there in 10 minutes," he paused, "Tell her we were playing racketball."

XXXX

"I need Grey."

"Well, you can't have her," Bailey replied shortly, "We're working on an 8 year-old here."

"_Well_, I thought you might say that, _so_, I brought Yang to take over."

"Yang is Cardio, I need neurology."

"_But_, Yang is an all-purpose surgeon. She's obsessive compulsive about knowing everything about everything. And, I really need Grey."

"No."

"Miranda," Sydney took a step into the OR, covering her mouth with a mask, "Do you really think that I would come in here and demand Grey, Grey of all people –– you know how well we get along –– if I didn't have a _really_ good reason. _And,_ I talked Yang into taking her place. Yang. Yang hates me. Can you imagine the groveling that that took? Because if you don't, I would be _happy_ to stand here and tell you _exactly_ what I said… "

"Grey, you can go."

"Thank you Miranda. That is very generous of you."

Sydney stepped out of the OR and leaned against the scrub sink to wait for Meredith.

"What's up," Meredith asked as she tossed her gloves in the bin.

"Not sure exactly," Sydney led her out of the scrub room and down the hall towards the locker room, "How are you doing today? Good?"

"Tired. This is my 37th hour and I've been on my feet a lot. Do you need a consult on something?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. I was just asking. Seeing how you were. What your day was like," she steered her towards the locker room, "Let's go in here for a moment."

"What's going on."

"Do you want to sit down? I'm going to sit down," she patted the bench beside her, "Sit. Sit."

"Sydney. _What_ is going on."

"You know how Derek and Mark were going to play racquetball?"

"No…"

"Well, there was a bit of a mishap and Derek was taken to the hospital."

"What kind of 'mishap'?"

"I don't know," Sydney apologized, "But Mark is on his way over, he's going to pick you up and take you to him."

"He's not here?"

"No, I guess they took him somewhere else."

"But I…" Meredith sank down on the bench, "He's okay though right?

"I'm sure he is. You know those boys. Derek probably broke his nose and they are calling it a national emergency."

XXXX

"His _heart_."

Mark closed his eyes for a moment then refocused on the road, "Meredith, I know as much as you right now."

"But how did he look? Was he awake? Where you talking to him?"

"Ya, he was awake. They said he was going to be okay."

"They said that?"

"Ya," Mark lied, "Sure."

Meredith stared silently out the window, "He's not gonna…"

"No," Mark assured firmly her as they pulled into a parking space, "He's not."

XXXX

Derek stared at the flimsy curtain surrounding his bed.

He hated hospitals.

He loves being a doctor, he loves the OR. Helping people. But hospitals themselves –– the ER, the patient's rooms, waiting rooms –– he just doesn't like them.

He had his appendix out when he was 8 and he hasn't been a patient since. He doesn't like the beeping of the machines, he doesn't like watching the line that's tracing his heartbeat, he doesn't like the tug of tape on his hand every time he moves and pulls at the IV, he doesn't like the wheezing breathing of the person on the other side of the curtain, he hates the baby crying somewhere down the hall. He hates that he is alone.

The first time he was a patient he hadn't been alone. His parents were there, his mom never left. He had books and toys. Now all he has is the rattling of gurneys, the screeching laugh of a nurse and the rain pouring against the windows.

He wishes his mother was here now to talk to him. He wishes he hadn't moved so far away from his family.

When he was 11 and his dad was in and out of the hospital, Derek spent every day after school at the hospital –– that was when he decided that he wanted to be a doctor –– but the smell, the sickness, the weakness, the sadness. The helplessness.

He hates hospitals.

He hates the rain.

He hates Seattle.

"Derek!"

He glanced up as Meredith threw back the curtain.

"Hey––"

"Derek. What. I…" she crossed the room and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

He could feel her tears running down onto his skin.

"What… what happened?" she whimpered softly against his neck.

"It was nothing. I was just a bit short of breath."

She pulled back just enough to look at his face, "Mark said it was your heart. You collapsed playing racquetball."

"Yeah," Derek shrugged, "I skipped dinner, it was probably just low blood sugar," he lied lamely.

She forced herself to be stoic, knowing that he was lying but letting it go, "Ya, I'm sure that's it."

"Just," he brushed some tears out of her face, "Relax, okay? The doctor said I'm doing okay right now. They are figuring out what's going on and I'll be fine."

She nodded, gripping at the front of his gown, her hand trembling.

"Meredith, come on," he sighed, starting to get a little frustrated.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I just ––I love you and I don't want to loose you and I'm just –– I'm scared."

Derek sighed as she curled into his chest. "I'm not… I'm okay. Okay? I promise. I'm not going anywhere," he whispered softly against her hair.

She nodded against his chest, squeezing him tightly for a moment, "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

"Good news," a robust doctor entered through the curtain and gripped the bar at the end of the bed, "It wasn't a heart attack."

Derek breathed a sigh of relief.

"Still need to run some test, _but_, it looks like angina. Probably just a random attack, _but,_ we are running some tests just to be sure. _So_, what that means for _you_, is, an over night stay up in cardiology, a week off work and some changes in lifestyle, diet and exercise."

"Okay," Derek nodded, gripped Meredith tighter and more confidently.

"That's not to say you should quit your job and start living life to the fullest, we are trying to eliminate stress from your life, so no major life changes –– at least for a few month. Just take it slow, get more sleep, cut back on the long hours at the hospital, join a gym; that sort of thing," he nodded briskly and gave Derek a quick smile, "_And,_ cut way down on the red meat and the alcohol. Special occasions only. But, other then that, you are going to be _just fine_.

XXXX

Derek's eyes flickered open slowly. He wasn't sure exactly when he fell asleep, but if anything his mind was foggier then before.

"Hey."

Derek looked over to the chair at the end of his bed.

"Hi."

"What are you doing."

"Dying?"

"Come on Derek," Mark leaned forward on his chair, "_What_ are you doing?"

"Do we really have to do this now?"

Mark remained silent.

"Where's Meredith?"

"She's on the phone with the chief. _What_ are you doing?"

"Mark," Derek shook his head to himself, "You of all people should get it."

"Well, I don't." Mark leaned back sprawling out in the chair, "I get flings, I get one night stands, I get… I don't get how you keep…" Mark shook his head and looked away.

"She's––"

"I know. I've been there," Mark looked at him again, "Derek. I get that Addison is alluring –– she's damn near impossible to resist, I know, she's hot, she's funny, she's amazing, I get it. I _get_ it. But you left her. You… you love Meredith. I know you do, you are with her… you've stayed with her for a reason."

"I love Meredith."

"I know. I know. Thats _exactly _what I don't get. I don't _get it_. If you couldn't get over Addison, why didn't you just stay with her? If you could get over me with her, why are you still with Meredith? _I don't get it_."

"Do you love Sydney?"

"She's my wife."

"Well then, there you go."

"No. NO. You do not get to compare us, Derek. You don't have an excuse for this. There is no excuse for this. You choose Meredith, you left Addison. You and Meredith are good together, your strong, you love each other. I don't get how you can jeopardize everything you have with her for something on the side."

"It's not… I _didn't_ get over it. How can I _get over_ that? I loved her more then _anything. I didn't_ _get over it_. I loved her _so much. _If you love Sydney _half _as much as I loved Addison when I saw her with you, you would understand. Addison was the love of my life and I can't _be_ with her because of you. I hate what you did to us. Every time I'm with her, every time I look at her I see her with you. She was _my wife_. So don't sit there and tell me that what we are doing is wrong. It is your fault that we are where we are. It's your fault that I am lying to the woman that _I love_."

"That's _bullshit_," Mark spat, "You are lying because you want to lie. You think because you can _have_ both of them you should _get_ both of them. You don't. You get Meredith. That's what you wanted, thats what you get."

Derek's face flushed and he clenched his jaw.

"I know you loved Addison. I was there, remember. But as much as you wanted to work you just didn't. You never did."

"We did," Derek replied almost sadly, "We worked. We loved each other."

"Yeah," Mark agreed, "You did, you were in love. But you were kids, it's over and you won't let it go, and it's literally killing you. You love Meredith, you're crazy about her. She's _it_, she's it for you. Forget about Addison. Or you are going to lose Meredith."

XXXX

"I want to see him."

"Addison…"

Addison lowered her eyes and stared at her hands, her fingers wringing tightly as she pulled at her engagement ring.

"You can't go see him tonight," Alex picked up her discarded blouse and folded it clumsily and placed it on the bed. Addison was wearing his gym pants and hoodie and she looked completely lost and forlorn. "Add, come on…"

"Please," her eyes started to well up again.

"Meredith is there."

"I don't care," the tears trickled down her face, "She wasn't _here,_ Alex. She didn't see how scared he was._ I was scared. I thought he was going to die,_ Alex. She wasn't _here_. _She didn't have to sit here and hold the hand of a man that she has loved for the last 15 years of her life and not be able to do anything. She didn't see him fighting back tears because he thought that his heart could stop at any moment. She wasn't there for any of that. She doesn't get to just swoop in and pick up the pieces. I was here. I was right here with him every second. Don't tell me that I don't get to be with him now. I'm the only one that should be there with him_."

XXXX

Mark squared his shoulders and crossed his arms a bit tighter over his chest, he stared hard at the blackness on the inside of his eyelids and listened to the annoyingly high pitched laugh of a nurse around the corner. He heard the soft shuffling of sneakers walking towards him, stopped in front of him with a sharp squeak.

"Heya Stud."

Mark smiled and slowly opened his eyes, "Hey."

"Hi," Sydney smiled at him and sat down on the hard plastic bench beside him.

"Where are the girls?"

"I got Barry to babysit"

"Who's _Barry_"

"The intern that you… you know that guy, you made him change Trix for like a month when she had that rash..."

"His name isn't Barry," Mark shook his head.

"It's something like Barry. Gary?"

"It's... I don't know. Not Barry."

She turned to look at his profile, "Maybe his last name's Barry."

He shook his head and turned to look at her too, "No. It's... I don't know. Not Barry. It's... Bartlett? Maybe?"

"Bartlett? Really?"

"Yeah. Andy. Bartlett."

"Oh..." Her brow furrowed.

"Yeah."

"Oh," she bit her lip.

"Kevin Jones," Mark spat out, nodding his head vigorously.

"Not Andy Bartlett? Or Barry?"

"No."

"Kevin Jones?" Her lip curled up in disgust and she scuffed the toe of her red and white Keds into the floor.

"Yeah"

"I left our kids with someone named Kevin Jones?"

"Yup"

"I liked him better as Barry."

Mark chuckled, then sighed and looked at her with a small smile, "I'm glad you came," he said sincerely.

"Hey, come on," she smiled and nudged him in the side, "I had an excuse to get a babysitter."

"He was with Addison."

Her eyes widened, "They probably weren't playing racquetball were they."

"At a hotel?"

"Oh. Scandal," she looked at him and reached over and picked up his tense hand and gave it a light squeeze before lifting it around her shoulders, "Here. Play with my hair."

Mark chuckled and dragged his hand through her hair.

"Does that help?"

"Yeah," he replied softly as she rested her head against his shoulder, "It does."

"Good," she moved a bit closer, "And if you ever sneak off to a hotel with Addison, you better _pray_ for a heart attack."

"Hey," he chuckled, "We have a deal, remember. I would cost me way to much to sneak off to a hotel with _anyone_."

"Damn pre-nup," she teased.

He pulled her a bit closer, "There's that too."

"Well, this is interesting," Sydney muttered, pulling away and standing up. She walked across the waiting room towards Addison who was walking tentatively towards her. "Hey," she greeted her softly, hugging her tight, "We said he was playing racquetball."

"Addison," Mark warned, crossing the room too and glaring at Alex as he spoke "You shouldn't be here."

"She started to cry every time I told her no."

"Is he okay?" Addison asked Mark, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

"It wasn't a heart attack, but they're keeping him over night."

She breathed a shaky sigh of relief and closed her eyes.

"Mark," Sydney turned to her husband, "Why don't you go get Meredith and take her to the cafeteria for some coffee."

Mark hesitated.

"I think they'd like to see each other," Sydney continued insistently, "When you have your first coronary episode don't you want someone to sneak _me_ in behind your forth wife's back?"

Mark smirked but placed a comforting arm around Addison's shoulders, "Give me 5 minutes."

XXXX

Derek's eyes drifted open to the sound of a hushed argument and scuffling sneakers outside the curtain around his bed. The curtain billowed softly and Derek's head dropped back in annoyance as he waited for, what he assumed to be interns, to barge in and clumsily try to be doctors.

The curtains parted slowly and Addison slipped in, carefully closed the curtains behind her, and turned to face him. Derek's brow furrowed in surprise, she looked horrible. Her skin was deathly pale except for splotches of bright red on her cheeks and nose, she had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was pulled into a messy damp ponytail.

"Don't _ever _do that too me _ever_ again Derek."

"I'm okay," Derek reassured her.

She nodded and tucked some stray hair behind her ear, "I almost killed you," she smiled weakly, "It's some sort of sign."

"It would have happened no matter where I was," he motioned for her to come closer, "I could have been taking out the trash or cutting into someone's skull," he shifted as she sat down on the edge of the bed, "I could have been with Meredith not you," he teased, "Does that make you feel better?"

"No. I liked it better when I literally stopped your beating heart," she offered him another weak smile and reached for the print out from the heart monitor, "Derek…" she sighed.

"Don't look at that," he reached to take it out of her hand.

"No. What is this?" she pointed to a jump in the read out, "I thought you said you were fine."

"I am," he pulled the print-out out of her hand and tossed it to the floor, "That's from when you walked in."

She shot him a look, "Maybe we save the Dreamy comments for when you are not so pale and aren't wearing an ass-less gown."

He smiled, chuckling softly.

She crossed her legs under her, "Do you need anything? Water?"

He shook his head.

"Are you cold?"

"I just want to go home. I want real clothes," he smirked, "Pants would be nice."

"Here," she slipped out of her –– well, Alex's –– zip-up hoodie, "Put this on." She shook her head sharply as he started to protest. She straightened it over his shoulders and zipped it up, smoothing her hand over his chest; she laid her cheek on his chest, listening to his heart; closing her eyes she tried to ignore the hospital patient smell and focus on the Derek smell underneath.

He rested his hand on her hair, brushing the loose strands away from her face and twisting her ponytail around his hand, he could feel her melting against him with a soft sigh.

"Just checking," she smiled and lifted her head, "Still beating," she rested her hand over his heart, just incase, "We should talk."

Derek nodded, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay," she nodded and turned to face him fully.

"Could you not, maybe, wear his ring while we're together? Alone. So we're, actually, alone."

"My ring…" she toyed for it for a moment, then looked him in the eye, "I think we need to talk about what we are going to do."

"We're doing it."

"But––"

"We can talk later," he assured her.

"But, Derek, we really should––"

"Hey, don't mind me," Sydney stepped through the curtain, "But, Meredith is on her way back. She just stopped in the bathroom."

Derek and Addison glanced at each other, "I'll visit you tomorrow," Addison promised, "Once I officially hear that you're here."

"Okay."

"Okay," she leaned down and lightly brushed her lips over his. She stood and smiled wearily at Sydney before moving past her and taking Alex's outstretched hand.

Derek and Sydney watched each other for a long moment.

"So, was it worth it?" she asked finally.

"Was what worth it?" Meredith asked, appearing from nowhere and seating herself at Derek's side.

Sydney smiled, "Beating Mark at racquetball."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In unrelated news. On Thursday I watched _Grey's Anatomy_ for the first time since it took Meredith 27 minutes to stop bobbing in the water. WTF is going on with that show. Like… come on. COME ON! What is that. I'm not even sure what my problem is exactly… it was just… BAD. Really bad. It did help in certain ways though… I was beginning to feel like I was loosing the characters when I was writing them and I think I've gotten some of that back… but… ugh. It was a really painful hour. It's a good thing I was drinking.

Anyway.

Comment. Tell me your hopes and dream.

Wanna have a contest? I need a middle name for Daisy. So whoever thinks up the best middle name for Daisy Vice gets… I dunno, what do you want? Okay, why don't….so, a prompt? You can basically dictate a future scene. Whatever you want provided it doesn't kill my plot. So like… okay… you get a prompt. For a stand alone scene. I guess. Sure.

Also, 50 cool points to whoever can write the best review in rhyming couplets.


	2. All You Need is Love

Okay. Chapter 2.

So I honestly think that asking you guys for rhyming couplet reviews was the smartest thing that I have ever done. They have been great and I have been laughing sooooo hard. On the other hand some people are trying to beat me at my own game and are writing their poetic reviews in German. So ya, everyone that sent in rhyming couplets gets 50 cool points (and I am keeping tally), BUT _Cowboys-and-coffee _is getting 150 because… that was just an amazing review that I feel the need to share:

The next installment,

How this made me cheer

But Addie and Derek?

They make me fear

They are so good together

yet sometimes so dumb

But now Mark and Sydney

There is some fun

I loved Alex with Addie

And Meredith not knowing

And Sydney's speech to Bailey

Was hysterically mind blowing

If I had my way

Der would dump Mer without fail

Then he and Addie

Into the sunset would sail

But instead I will wait

And see where you lead

Because I have faith

In Addek indeed

Not quite couplets, but I'm not that picky. I thought that was fantastic, so thank you.

So this chapter brings a whole new meaning to the word love –– and for the record I know nothing about tennis.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I don't know."

"We both like this one."

"Yeah," Meredith tilted her head to the side, "But we'd have to get new drapes."

"Not if we get it in brown."

"True," Meredith's lip curled pensively.

Derek shoved his hands in his pocket and watched Meredith looks back and forth between a black leather couch and a cream sectional. He glanced at the salesman how was trying his damnedest to still look interested, "Why don't you give us a little while."

"This is a huge decision Derek," she told him seriously.

"I know."

"It has to tie into the whole downstairs of our house."

"Mer, you are over thinking this. We both like this one, it goes great with what we already have and if we order it in another colour they can just deliver it and we can sit on it and enjoy it."

"I know," Meredith brow furrowed.

"So, what's still bothering you?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

She sighed, "I think I want that one over there," she pointed and pulled away.

"Which one?" He followed her down the aisle.

"This one."

Derek took in the living room display. "It's purple."

"It's a deep purple," Meredith fingered the suede armrest, "And it's so soft," she sank down into the overstuffed pillows, "And comfy. I really love it. I've been thinking about it all week."

Derek sat tentatively beside her, then leaned back carefully. She leaned into his side and rested her cheek on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her and relaxed running his other hand over the supple materiel. "It doesn't match anything we own."

"I think I hate everything we own."

"We'd definitely have to get new drapes."

"And a rug," she admitted, "And probably paint the whole 1st floor and up the stairs."

"Or I'd have to paint the whole first floor and up the stairs," he sighed, "This is the one you like?"

"It really is," she looked up at him, her eyes hopeful, "We can redecorate the house and make it more us and less… everything we have either belonged to Ellis or you and Addison. Our home should have our own stuff."

"We have our own––"

"The only time we ever bought furniture or redid anything was with Julie's room."

"Fine," he relented, with soft smile, "But I'm getting the bigger TV."

"We don't have room," she laughed, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Ellis's house doesn't have room," he reminded her, "Our house does."

She grinned, "The dimensions are the same Derek."

"We'll figure out a way," he smiled confidently and relaxed against the pillows, "There's room on the back, we can add on a den or something."

"That's going to look weird unless we add a piece on to the second floor and the attic too."

"So we'll add."

"That will make an extra room on the second floor. Do we need 4 bedrooms? It's just us."

Derek was silent for a moment, "It might not always be just us."

Meredith stared at his profile, a small smile on her lips as he turned to look at her, "I'd like that."

XXXX

"You have an unfair advantage," Derek panted.

"I'm in shape?" Addison teased.

"Your skirt. It's very short. It's distracting."

"It's supposed to be short, it's a tennis skirt."

"Well," Derek served the ball back to her, "It's not fair."

"Hey," she lobbed it back, "I'm distracted too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she slammed it over the net, "Your pasty chicken legs turn me on," she grinned as he scrambled for the ball he had no chance of catching, "Point. And… match." She raised her arms in victory and did a little hip-sway dance of triumph as she walked over to meet him at the net, "Nice try though," she teased, leaning over the net to kiss his cheek.

"I let you win," he assured her, puffing out his chest as he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him for a few steps, causing her to almost trip over her own feet.

"The last 7 times we've played?" she asked with a grin, nudging him in the side with the end of her racket, pushing him back to his side of the net.

"It's the damn tennis dresses," Derek reached for his water bottle and eyed her up and down, "They're short and tight all over. Low cut… you're sweating and it's dripping down your…" he trailed off distracted by 5 thing at once, "… and you have legs," he tilted his head down, "Long tan ones."

"You forgot my visor," she touched the rim that was shielding her eyes, "I make this look good."

He bumped his knuckle under her chin, "I'd like to see you in nothing but the visor."

She laughed, "I bet you would," she took a step closer and leaned her body into his, "If only I didn't have that birthday party to go to," she leaned in and lightly bit down on his lower lip, "But I'll bring you some cake," she promised, kissing him just hard enough that his eyes flickered shut, "Extra frosting."

"Woman," he sighed, forcing himself away from her, "You better have big plans for that frosting."

XXXX

"Women."

Derek chuckled and nodded, "How long have you been waiting?"

"Oh," the man in the well cut blazer checked his watch,"20 minutes. You?"

"35 at least. She's high maintenance," Derek grinned and held out his hand, "Derek Shepherd."

"Rob Fischer," the tall man held out his hand and shook Derek's vigorously. "I caught the end of your match. Your girl really kept you running."

Derek chuckled, "She keeps me on my toes," he turned his head at the sharp tap of her heels, "Here she comes," he smiled as Addison approached and rested a hand on the small of her back, "Addison, this is Rob Fischer. He caught the end of our tennis game. He's a fan of yours."

Addison shook his offered hand, "You have good taste."

Rob chuckled, "And modest too," he grinned good-naturedly, "And apparently also with good taste. My wife was quick to point out that you, apparently, have a pair of sunglasses that she can't live without."

"My Valentino's? She's right, she _can't_ live without them. If she's smart she'll get them in brown _and_ black."

"That's what I'ah keep tellin' hihm, but Seattle isn't exactly indulgin' mah flair fo' fashion, is it dahlin'," a petite brunette stepped up to Rob's side, pouting, "It makes meh homesick for Dallas somethin' awful."

Rob laughed, "Joanie, this is Derek and his wife Addison. My wife Joanie. She grew up in Chicago, but occasionally like to imitate our former neighbors by badly mocking their speech patterns."

Derek and Addison were still for a moment, both waiting for the other to correct Rob on their marital status.

"I like the drawl," she shook Addison's hand and winked at her, no longer any trace of a southern drawl, "It's an icebreaker."

Derek and Addison forced a laugh, awkwardly looking for a way to turn the conversation back and correct a few assumptions.

"We're going to sit down for some lunch," Joanie broke their concentration, "Would you like to join us? We haven't really met anyone in Seattle yet and are sick to _death_ of each others company."

Derek and Addison exchanged looks, "Yeah," Derek nodded after a moment, "We'd like that."

Addison smiled at Joanie, "You're new here? When we moved here from New York, we lived in the middle of nowhere in a trailer. I hope your husband is taking care of you better then that. Although I'm not sure what else Seattle has to offer besides rain and trees."

"A trailer? And you still talk to him."

"There was a time when he wondered why I wanted to spend all my time at work or getting hotels ––"

"What do you do?" Rob interrupted.

"She's a doctor," Derek explained, "Obstetrics."

Addison glared at him wondering why he would leave out all the cool and exciting parts of her job.

"And you?"

Derek grinned, "I'm retired. I fished."

"Oh," Joanie sighed, "That seems so relaxing."

Derek nodded, "What do you do?"

"Software Analyst," Rob rolled his eyes, "It pays the bills," he raised his arm and signaled that they'd like a table, "Joanie's busy _harp_ing the world to appreciate the beauty of the Arts."

Joanie laughed, "I play the harp. Literally. We moved up here so I could start teaching. Less travel. But, you know," she looked to her husband, "If we had a trailer I could be at home AND on the road. Win Win."

Addison laughed and shook her head vehemently, "No, no. Four years later and he's lucky he can set foot on a tennis court without crutches."

"We are on month 3 in a hotel," Joanie shook her head as they seated themselves at a table, "I'm not complaining about the room service but ––"

"The closets," Addison nodded with a grin.

"Exactly."

XXXX

An hour later Addison glanced at her watch, "I've really got to get going," she said regretfully, looking at Derek with small smile.

It had been an enjoyable lunch. They talked about some of the positive attributes of Seattle–– to which the women didn't have much to add–– they discussed a play it turned out they had all seen in New York and a restaurant they had all tried in Seattle.

Derek quickly and wordlessly paid for the foursome's lunch, "Rob," he spoke calmly, "I'm going to walk Addison out to her car, but if you don't have plans for the afternoon how about a drink?"

Addison cleared her throat and shot Derek a look.

"Of soda," he smiled at Addison, then glanced back at their new friends, "She worries to much."

"Well I think it's a great idea," Joanie grinned and winked again at Addison, "Gives me an excuse to try out that spa."

Addison flashed her nails, "Try the manicurist." she advised as she turned to go.

"That was fun," Derek reflected as he walked her to her car.

"Derek," She hissed, "This is _insane_."

"Why?"

"We can't have couple friends. We aren't a couple."

"They think we are."

"Which is also stupid, you should have told them."

"I didn't know how," he opened her car door for her, "It'll be fine. They just want someone to play doubles with."

"For now," Addison rested her hand on his cheek and brought their lips together, "But, you wait. We are going to be giving up nights in the trailer to go to dinner parties by the end of the month."

"Yeah," Derek closed her door firmly, "That's not happening."

XXXX

"Daisy!" Addison yelled down the stairs, "Come up here and get dressed."

"In a minute!"

"Daisy _Lorraine!"_

"_I'm coming_!"

"You have until the count of 5 or I am picking out your clothes and you are going to have to wear whatever I pick. 1… 2… 3… " Addison stopped as she heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Can I wear my white dress?" Daisy asked as she flopped down on her bed.

Addison frowned and crossed the room to Daisy's closet, "Unless your Dad pressed it it probably needs to be ironed."

Daisy looked at her, her eyes wide and pleading.

Addison rolled her eyes, "Only because it's your birthday," she grabbed the dress and left the room. "Brush your hair while I'm doing this," she called out over her shoulder as she headed down the hall, "Okay? Boo? Your hair?"

"Yup."

"Al?" She rapped sharply on Ali's door, "Your dad wants you to go pick up the cake."

Ali humphed and made no attempt to obey.

"If you leave in the next 3 minutes I'll distract your dad and you can take his car and put the roof down."

"Can I borrow your car to go to the movies on Saturday?"

"Why do you need my car?"

"Bigger back seat."

"_No,_" Addison exclaimed, "_Absolutely_ not."

"It's a double date. Shelby's boyfriend is like 7 feet tall."

Addison sized her up, "You leave from here, and I will measure that kid. If he is one _inch_ under 7 feet you are grounded."

"Addy!" Daisy yelled from her bedroom, "Can I have curly hair for my party?"

"Ugh," Addison groaned, "_Geoff? Geoffrey!"_

"What?" Geoff called up the stairs.

Addison balled up the dress and tossed it down the stairs to him, "Can you press that? I have to do Daisy-Boo's hair."

"Yup," he flung the dress over his shoulder, "Can you tell Alison––"

"I'm_ going," _Ali emerged from her room, sliding on a pair of sunglasses and flipping her hair.

"Get some more balloons too," he asked her as she breezed past him, "Helium. _There is money in my wallet on the kitchen counter," _he called after her, before turning back to Addison and shrugging.

"Addy! I need _help!_"

Addison shot Geoff an exasperated look, then grinned and winked, before turning back to Daisy's room.

XXXX

"Cupcake?" Geoffrey held out the tiny cake as he sat done on the porch step beside her.

"Thanks," Addison grinned and accepted the cupcake with the Daisy design on the top, "Here," she picked up a string of beads off the step beside her and tied it around his neck, "Sexy."

"You were busy," he teased.

"I wasn't going to let those girls have all the fun," she leaned in closer, "I had to fight one of the Emma's for that Daisy pendant."

Geoffrey chuckled and glanced around the backyard. 10 seven year old girls were searching around the twinkle-light laden bushes for daisy-themed costume jewelry. Everything was covered in white and yellow and daisies and glitter.

"Addy!" Daisy ran over, panting, and handed Addison a hair clip with an enormous sparkling daisy on it.

Addison laughed and gathered her blond curls into a ponytail and pinned it up with the clip, carefully keeping the daisy-tiara and daisy-chains in place. "Are you having a good birthday, Daisy-Baby?"

Daisy pulled away, "I'm 7."

Addison chuckled, "Sorry Boo," she apologized, earning herself another look from Daisy before she ran off.

"She's getting big," Geoffrey observed as his youngest daughter ran off to join her friends, white balloons streaming out behind her. He moved closer to Addison on the porch step and wrapped his arm around her waist and kissing her shoulder, "Soon she's going to be to big to be our flower-girl," he spoke softly, letting his words hang there.

Addison smiled and leaned over to kiss him lightly on the lips. Pulling back slightly she held up her cupcake to his mouth and let the frosting drag across his lip, "Want some cake?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alright, so the "name Daisy" contest winner can claim their prize with a stellar review and the answer to a skill testing question.

And this time I was thinking that we could do Haikus for reviews. I think that's worth like 75 cool points.

Review for the chance to win a new car!


	3. Bittersweet Symphony

Now. I'm not sure how people felt about the last chapter. Generally the feeling I got was 'meh'. I'm going to try to make up for that… however I'm not really sure that this is the chapter to do it with. Personally I am in love with it… but I can think of at least 3 reasons why some of you might disagree. I can think of 2 reasons why this chapter is awesome. I can think of like 9 if one thing gets counted more then once.

I think it's good though. Funny, romantic… there is a "fight"… there's some football. There is a "hidden" football analogy and phallic symbols which I love and don't use enough.

And inappropriate methods of parenting. Those are my favorites.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No," Meredith groaned as she trudged into the locker room, "What are you doing here?" she groaned and gripped the front of his shirt and dropped her forehead into the crook of his neck.

"I'm working," he chuckled as he kissed her temple and gently pushed her away.

"You aren't supposed to be working today," she wearily opened her locker, "Not _today_."

"It's only for a few hours," he assured her, leaning over and kissing her cheek as he adjusted his stethoscope around his neck. "Go home and lay down. I'll be home before you know it. I'll get take out or something."

Meredith watched him leave, jaw slack. _He forgot_. She sighed and reached for her street clothes. It looked like she'd be celebrating their 3rd anniversary by herself.

XXXX

"You are going to love this," Sydney dropped two opened packages on the table, "Look," she held up a tiny cheerleaders outfit.

Mark leaned over the counter and began peeling his banana, "You're petite but your not that petite. But, I appreciate that you're coming around and supporting my team."

She threw the tiny red and blue New York Giants dress at his chest, "They are for the _babies_," she grinned as she rummaged through the other box, "See, I got a Seahawk's one too. We can dress our babies up as cheerleaders for the game tonight."

"But not you?" He took a bite of his banana and grinned at her.

"I'll tell you what," she leaned across the counter, "I'll dress up like a Giant's cheerleader," she broke off half of his banana, "If you dress up like a Seahawks quarterback."

Mark groaned.

"Thought so," she winked, "I'm going home. Bring some food when you come. Chinese and nachos. And applesauce for the cheerleaders."

"You're going home?" Callie asked as soon as Sydney disappeared around the corner.

"Yeah."

"I thought you were going to watch the game with me."

"Oh shit. Cal, I forgot," Mark apologized, "Come over and watch it with us."

"I can't. We were suppose to go to Geoff's remember."

"So bring Geoff."

"If I bring Geoff he'll have to bring Daisy because Addison is going out and can't watch her."

Mark sighed, "We could bring the twins to Geoff's, I guess…"

Callie shook her head, "No, it's fine. I'll go to Geoff's by myself," She punched him in the arm, "You owe me. Next time there is a good game on you are keeping me fed the entire time. Buffalo wings, nachos, pizza, beer, chips; whatever I want, you better have on hand." She slapped him one last time, "You suck."

XXXX

"Oh," Sydney teased as she lifted one of the twins out of her bath seat and wrapped her in a towel, "You are so cute when you're clean," she cuddled her for a moment then settled her in the carrier on the floor before reaching for another towel then back to the tub for her sister, "And it happens so rarely."

She gathered up both babies and carried them into the bedroom, drying them off, smoothing on powder and changing them into fresh diapers.

"What fat babies you are," she grinned and blew a raspberry on the tummy of one and kissing the bottom of the others foot, earning giggles and shrieks from both, "We are going to have to ask Daddy to give you lipo-suction. Would you like that?" She picked up one and settled her against her chest then reached for the other and held her under her arms, "Wouldn't that be a fun first birthday present? Now don't squirm or Mommy will drop you. That wouldn't be fun would it. No. We need to keep all those brain-cells intact. Yes, we do. 'Cause Mommy and Daddy gave you silly names. Yes, we did. So now you have to be extra smart so people will take you seriously."

She was entering the kitchen just as Mark walked in the door, "Hey," he greeted setting the food on the counter, "Hey!" he exclaimed again lifting one of the babies out of Sydney's arms, "You're clean! What's the occasion?"

"The bathroom had to be cleaned anyway," she peeled the lid off of a container of Chinese, "Three birds one stone," she reached for a fork and took a bite, "This is cold."

"Sorry," he lifted the baby over his head, twisting and turning and letting her pretend she was a bird for a minute.

"Take this one too," she handed him the other baby so he was holding them both under the arms like they were footballs, "Do something with their hair while I make this edible."

"Hair," he turned towards the living room, "I can't do hair."

"Well, you can't cook either."

"I have other skills," he called back.

"Which is how we ended up with the twins. Now you have to take care of them," the microwave began to whirr, "There are barrettes and clothes by their brush on the chair."

Mark plopped both babies in the playpen and stood in front of the TV watching the coin toss, "You won," he called to her dejectedly.

"You bet your ass I did."

XXXX

"We won the coin toss!"

"Of course we did," Callie poured some chips in a bowl.

"I'm leaving," Addison breezed through the kitchen.

"No," Geoffrey pouted and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Stay and watch the game with us."

Addison smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I hate sports."

"But you love me and I want you to stay."

She laughed and kissed him softly, "I don't love you enough to watch sports," she teased as she unwrapped herself from his arms.

Callie rolled her eyes and searched for dip.

"Besides," Addison grinned stealing a chip right out from Callie's nose, "I have a date."

XXXX

Meredith stepped through the front door and dropped her yoga mat to the floor. An impromptu three hours of exercise really had her feeling better. She stepped into the living room and let her eyes take in the new couch and cream coloured walls.

She paused and bit her lip, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She sat down on the couch and gazed at the vase of wildflowers and colourful lilies and orchids sitting in the middle of the coffee table. She gingerly reached for the card and pulled it out along with a long stemmed white and pink orchid.

_I feel so lucky to have found you,_

_Happy Anniversary Meredith._

_I love you._

_Derek_

_p.s. I didn't forget. Take a bath and relax. I'm picking you up at 8 and we will celebrate yet another year together. I love you. -D_

Meredith grinned and picked up the vase, carrying it with her up the stairs. She passed through the bedroom and pushed open the door to the bathroom. Her smile grew.

The room was filled with more flowers just like the one in her hand. Single lilies and orchid stood in tall vases around the bathtub and along the window sill surrounded by tiny candles.

"Oh Derek," she whispered as she turned on the bath water and lit the long tapered match and began lighting candles around the room. Returning she picked up her bathrobe, smelling the single flower resting on it, and discovered a box of decadent chocolates hidden underneath. She lifted the lid and pulled out the note laying on top of the candy.

_Forgive me yet?_

She chuckled and popped a chocolate in her mouth.

Moments later she was sinking in the warm bath water; splashing her toes and laughing to herself as the water quickly flushed her skin and started melting the chocolate in her hand. For the next hour she floated blissfully, eating chocolate and tearing the petals off flowers to let them float in the water.

As the water cooled she regretfully dragged herself from the water and dried off, taking her chocolates with her to the closet. She shook her head and smiled as she reached for her favorite blue dress, hanging inside a dry cleaners bag with a red rose.

At 7:43 the doorbell rang. Meredith groaned and pressed her lips together to even out her lipstick, and hurried down the stairs, cursing whoever was at the door and interrupting her anniversary.

"Derek," she grinned.

"Happy Anniversary."

She squealed a little and wrapped her arms around him, bouncing a bit in his arms.

"Hey come on. You are squishing my tux."

Her eyes widened and she pulled away, "Is that a limo?"

He glanced over his shoulder, "Yup," he grinned, "You ready?"

XXXX

"I can't believe that you didn't have a date tonight."

"I can't believe _you_ didn't have a date tonight," Alex shot back, "You have two boyfriends."

Addison smirked, "And yet I'm spending my Friday night with you."

"Because one of your boyfriends is showering his girlfriend with love and affection and the other would rather watch football."

"With my best friend."

"So you settled for me."

Addison stuck out her lip mocking his pout, "You know you're my favorite."

"Then why am I the only one you aren't sleeping with?"

Addison grinned and speared some salad, taking a bite as she smirked.

"How's that going this time around?"

Addison shrugged and pressed her napkin to her lips, "Fine. We started playing tennis."

"Tennis?"

Addison nodded, "He's suppose to be exercising more," she rolled her eyes and took a sip of her wine, "Oh, and, the idiot; we met this couple at the tennis club, right. Fine. He insists that we have lunch with them, then he lets them think that we are _married_ and _then_ he lied about our jobs. He said that he was _retired_ and that I was an _obstetrician. _What is he thinking? Now we have to play doubles with them on Tuesday. And, Derek sucks, I don't want him on my team."

"Get out Addison," Alex stabbed at a gob of ketchup with a french fry, "Get out now."

Addison was silent, pushing food around her plate slowly, "I can't."

"Why not?"

She glanced up and met his eyes, "I love him."

"Damn it Addison," Alex tossed down his napkin.

"What?" she exclaimed defensively, "It's not my fault."

"Not your… you weren't suppose to fall in love with him again."

"I didn't _fall_ in love with him, I _always_ loved him."

"Addison…" he closed his eyes and pressed his palms hard against his eyes, "What about Geoff?"

"I love him too," she admitted softly.

"You can't love them both."

"Why not?"

"You, just… fine. Just pick one. Who do you love more?"

"Well… Derek. But, that's only because I've loved him longer," she rushed on, "It's not a fair comparison."

"You hurt my head," Alex ran his hands over his short bristly hair.

"But it's not fair," Addison protested again, "It's there with Geoffrey. We just haven't been together as long. It's growing. I need time. I know that eventually it's going to be the other way around. I just haven't had enough time with him yet."

"Do you _hear_ yourself Addison? When you talk are you actually listening to what you are saying? You need to get out of this mess with Derek or you need to break up with Geoff."

"But I love Derek," she argued weakly, slumping back in her chair.

Alex shook his head, "But does he love you?"

She sighed, "I don't know. I think so." She shrugged, "I know he loves me, it's just not the same as he loved me before. We just don't love each other as much as we did. But it _is_ still there. I can't just walk away from that."

"You _won't_ walk away––"

"Fine. I _won't_. I'm _not_. I don't want too."

"You're being petulant today."

Addison wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I need to ask you something."

"What?" she asked as she resumed eating her dinner.

"Do you think Callie would go out with me? If I asked her."

"Why would you do that?"

Alex rolled his eyes, "Because I like her."

"Why?"

"She's like you," Alex smiled, "But she's not an adulteress whore and she has this somewhat admirable ability to keep her legs closed in inappropriate and usually scandalous situations."

"Low blow, kid."

"I just like her Addison. Okay? Should I ask her out or not?"

XXXX

"Barrette?"

"Barrette." Sydney handed Mark the red barrette without taking her eyes off the game, "You are getting your ass kicked."

"I'm in denial," he secured the barrette around the wispy ponytail and lifted the baby up to kiss her pudgy cheek, "We still have a chance don't we Rox?"

Sydney laughed as the baby started to cry and reach out for her mother. "See, even your 9 month old knows when to give up and switch teams."

"I think she's horrified that her mother dressed her up like a cheerleader for her own sick amusement," Mark carefully balanced the toddler on his knee and gently bounced her up and down, "We are going to get the next fieldgoal and she'll come around."

"Mark. She is trying to fit her entire fist in her mouth; she is not going to 'come around' until she's fed."

"You are unduly influencing our daughters," he muttered handing over the baby who instantly stopped crying.

"With boobs? They aren't _you_. She just loves her mommy," she cooed, "Don't you. You're my baby. Your my favorite. You are. You're my favorite pudge-ball."

"Then wean her. Do you know how much fat is in breast-milk?"

"I like her fat," Sydney kissed the babies forehead as she suckled, "She can eat all she wants. If she wants to be completely round by the time she's one I'll gladly help. I want to dress her up as a Christmas ball for the holidays."

"You're going to give them complexes."

"I wasn't really counting on a mother of the year award."

Mark went back to his game, no longer cheering excitedly, there was no point. He sighed. Seattle was in the endzone, again, "Don't even…"

Sydney smirked, "I don't have too. Look at the peanut gallery."

Mark glanced at the playpen where a mini Seattle Seahawks cheerleader was gripping the side and rapidly bending and straightening her knees, trying to jump and grinning ear to ear. "I should be raising you in New York," he told her, "This city is brain washing you."

XXXX

"What are they doing?"

"Seattle is about to try to kick the ball through the goal posts."

"Why?"

"So they can get another point."

"Oh." Daisy paused and watched a few seconds of the game in silence, "Now what are they doing?"

"Huddling."

"What's that?"

"They are talking about how they are going to score their next goal."

"Oh."

Callie picked up the bowl of cheezies and offered some to Daisy who was laying across the couch and using Callie's leg as a pillow.

"Why is the ball shaped like that?"

"I don't know," Callie admitted, "I think because it's easier to run with and easier to throw."

"Wouldn't it be more fun if it was harder?"

"Maybe."

"I think I like the red team better," Daisy said decisively as Geoffrey re-entered the living room and balanced a bowl of flavored popcorn on Daisy's belly and lifting her feet to rest on this lap.

"Why?!" both adults demanded, the 'red' team was New York.

"Their outfits are nicer. Addy said you shouldn't wear green and blue together unless you are absolutely sure that they match and you can never be sure so you just shouldn't. But, red and blue are okay."

"Oh come on," Geoff exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

"What happened?"

"Our team lost 5 yards." Callie explained patiently.

"Why?"

"The quarterback was dancing."

"Why?"

"He was happy. He just got 6 points for his team."

"He lost points for being happy?"

"Not points. Just yards. They have to start from a different line now."

"Did that man just touch that other man's bum?"

Callie and Geoff exchanged looks, "Yes," Callie admitted.

"Why?"

"That's how you say good job when you are playing football."

"Oh," Daisy chewed on her lip, "Is that why their pants are so tight?"

"Probably."

"This game it stupid."

"Daisy." Geoff reprimanded sharply, " In this house, we don't say that football is stupid."

Daisy giggled.

"You think that is funny?"

Daisy laughed and nodded as Geoff's hands descended on her and started tickling her mercilessly until she squirmed and screamed with laughter and rolled off the couch.

Geoff balanced one armed on the couch as he watched his daughter rolling on the floor clutching her stomach as the laughter subsided, "I think she learned her lesson about bad mouthing sports," he grinned at Callie, accidently grazing her leg as he straightened up.

Callie inhaled sharply and stood, "Want something to drink?"

"Beer."

"Chocolate milk," Daisy requested from the floor where she still lay laughing.

Callie chuckled and returned moments later with the requested drinks. Geoff was half standing and staring at the TV in shock. "What happened?"

"New York just intercepted and scored." he turned to stare at her, his eyes gleaming feverishly, "This is intense."

Callie took a long swig of her beer and set to pacing behind the couch, "It certainly is. Damn New York."

XXXX

"Dessert?"

Meredith peered at him through her eyelashes and smiled, "What kind of question in that?"

Derek smirked and nodded at the waiter, "Could we have two pieces of the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake?"

Meredith's smiled widened, "My favorite."

"I'm sorry sir, we only have one piece left."

Derek glanced at Meredith, "She can have it," he nodded again and turned to Meredith.

"Did you just give me the last piece of cheesecake?"

Derek nodded sheepishly.

She raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, "Are you going to stand outside my window holding a radio over your head and pretend to like my taste in music too?"

"I try to do something nice and you make fun of me."

"You're telling me that you didn't plan that whole 'last piece of cheesecake' thing?"

"Well, I didn't think that you'd call me on it."

Meredith chuckled and sat back in her seat.

"But, now that you've ruined that, and the speech I had prepared to go with it…" He grinned and pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket, "I guess I'll just give you this now."

She stared at him, her eyes wide and reached out her hand.

"Now hold on," he pulled back, "I want to say something first," he wrapped his hands around the tips of her fingers and leaned towards her, "I love you. And I know that I have sucked at showing it sometimes," he smiled gently at her, "But, I do. And all the bad things that we have gone through to get here just make me realize how lucky I am that you gave me a chance to make it up to you. We were lucky to have found each other in the first place, and when you kicked me out without even knowing my last name –– or really my first name –– I never thought that I would ever see you again. I didn't deserve to find you again, I didn't deserve to win you back, I don't deserve to have you love me. But I'm very, very," he grinned and gently kissed her, "Glad that you do."

Meredith turned over the jewelry box that Derek pressed gently into her hand, her heart beating wildly in her chest and tears already threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"I hope you like diamonds."

XXXX

"Why are we still talking about this?"

Addison shrugged and looked away.

"I'm not asking to marry her. I just want to buy her a coffee."

"Then buy her coffee."

"Fine."

"Fine." Addison crossed her arms and stared hard at Alex across the table, "What if it's more then coffee."

"Cart," Alex slammed down one hand, "Horse," he slammed down the other.

"Okay," Addison's face flushed, "Not to be selfish here, but you are my best friend, and Callie is my best friend. So if my best friend starts dating my other best friend and then breaks up with her. That's awkward for me."

"I haven't even asked her out yet and you practically have me leaving her at the alter."

"Plus… you _know_ things. About me. And how can you have a relationship with Callie when you have to keep all my secrets. How can you build a relationship on all those lies."

"Coffee!"

"I don't want you dating my best friend!"

"Why!"

"You're my back up. And I don't want to share you."

"You have _two boyfriends_."

"I know! And there is a very real possibility that someday Geoff will find out about Derek and dump me. And then where will I be? Alone. And if you are dating Callie…? A–– thats probably _how_ he'd find out _and_ B –– I wouldn't have you to turn to. You are the most stable relationship I have, and I'm loosing you to _Callie_."

"That is selfish Addison. Even for you."

"I don't care. I don't want you to date her."

"I don't care," Alex said firmly, standing and nodding towards the door, indicating it was time to leave, "I'm asking her out."

Addison frowned and reached for her jacket, "You just want to get laid."

"Yes. That would be nice."

Addison glared at him.

"Addison!," he exclaimed as they walked out on to the street, "I just want to ask her out for coffee. She's smart, funny, beautiful and she doesn't hate me. I even like that she's your friend. That's it. I'm not in love with her, I'm not trying to ruin your life, I'm not looking for a wife. I'm not even looking for someone to take to Christmas dinner. I just want someone that I like as a human being to sit down and have a cup of coffee with. You of all people should understand _that_."

XXXX

Meredith leaned against the footboard of the bed and twirled the jewelry box between her fingers.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked groggily, rousing himself and shifting down to the end of the bed, "Are you crying?"

Meredith wiped a few stray tears off her cheeks and smiled, "Yeah," she leaned down and kissed him, wrapping the sheet tighter around her frame, "I love my earrings."

Derek smiled and pulled her down to him, cuddling her against his chest. It was a few moments before he was awake enough to realize that she was still crying. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, pulling away to look at her face.

"Nothing. I love them."

Derek cupped her damp cheek in his hand and studied her face. "You thought it was something else," he stated finally.

Her eyes drifted away for a second, then returned to meet his, "Yeah."

"A ring?"

She nodded. "I want to marry you, Derek."

He held her face in both his hand, "I love you," he whispered, kissing her forehead, her eyelids and the bridge of her nose, "I want to be with you. Forever."

Tears started pouring down her face.

"But I don't want to ask you like this. Not when you are crying and mad at me for screwing up. I can do better then that."

She laughed through her tears, "I know. Today was prefect."

"Except for the earrings."

"No," she kissed him, "I love the earrings. I just want a ring to match."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So, it's kinda hard for me to write this… but I love MerDer in this section. They are adorable and I love them. I know that is slightly out of character for me. I mean I never had a problem with them, but they have never been my favorite couple. But they love each other. They do. And really… I got a couple of comments that led me to believe that not everyone believed that Derek loved Meredith… the anniversary chapter that I had planned had to become so much more dreamy and romantic cause you guys needed to see what I see.

But, Addison was spewing some stuff. And Callie's life might be getting more interesting.

And Mark and Sydney… are getting their own chapter.

Review so I know that you love me. I'm lacking in love in all facets of my life.


	4. The Way to There

So, after much deliberation I'm posting.

If you don't like Mark and Sydney you could probably safely skip this chapter. There is a little plot development but I'm sure that you'd catch up with Chapter 5. But ya, I'd say that Marksy own about 5/8th of this chapter. I couldn't stop. They are so fun.

So every other little scene is Mark and Sydney, and they are flashbacks, you will recognize them cause they are in italics. And they go backwards, so the first one is the most recent and they go further and further back.

Oh, and Sarah's prize for choosing Daisy's middle name is in this chapter. It involves Derek and Geoff.

Also, this is the longest chapter of life.

Enjoy the show.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Silence.

When Mark left the apartment 35 minutes earlier Sydney had been playing hip-hop music and the babies were crying and shrieking, but now that he had dropped his daughters off at Addison's for the evening all he could hear was the distant sound of the ferries in the harbour floating through the open living room windows.

He stepped around the corner and into the kitchen. Sydney was standing serenely at the stove stirring a sauce, one barefoot scratching the back of her other leg absently.

"It's so quiet," he murmured.

"I know," she smiled and turned off the heat on the stove and turned away, "Isn't it nice?"

Mark chuckled as she walked over to him and stood on her toes to link her hands behind his neck. He gathered her long hair into a ponytail. She was quiet and pensive today, it happened sometimes –– rarely –– and he doubted Derek and Meredith would know what to do with a calm Sydney. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing," she tilted her head to the side, "Kiss me?"

Mark smirked and lifted her against him, backing her against the refrigerator. Dragging his hands down her legs he locked them around his waist.

"This isn't what I had in mind," she teased softly, "We have guests coming in half an hour."

"They'll be late," he promised, dropping light kisses across her cheeks and down her neck.

"You don't know that."

"I don't care," he nipped at her collarbone, "I'll finish dinner if you give me 20 minutes."

"I trained you so well," she murmured, kissing him slowly and running her fingers through his hair as he carried her over to the couch.

"Stay here," Mark instructed 27 minutes later as he pressed a kiss against her jaw, "I'll finish dinner."

"Mark," Sydney laughed gently, "I need to get dressed."

"Stay here," he instructed again, dragging himself away from her and off the couch, "Just relax. Don't move."

Mark bound up the stairs, grabbed her dress off the end of the bed and bound back down, "Here," he tossed the dress to her and returned to the kitchen. "What kind of pasta do you want?"

"Linguini. It's in the fridge. And you need to take the vegetables out of the oven and stir them. And open the wine. And take the tinfoil off the hors d'oeuvre and put them on the plate on the counter."

"There is no plate on the counter. _Do not_ _move!_" he exclaimed the second her heard her shifting on the couch, "I'll find one."

"I'm not!"

Mark moved around the kitchen occasionally glancing into the living room to make sure that Sydney was still stretched out on the couch.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Can I get off the couch now?" Sydney called from the living room, "Or am I some sort of post-coital display?"

Mark chuckled, opening the door to Derek and Meredith just as he heard the door to the bathroom close behind her.

XXXX

_9 months, 3 weeks and 2 days ago_

"_We should have at least 10 of these."_

"_Let's get these 2 walking first," Sydney carefully coloured Roxana's toenails purple with a Crayola washable marker, "Roxie purple, Trixie red."_

"_Walking?" Mark frowned and stared at the 3 day old babies who were barely able to keep their eyes open, let alone walk. One baby –– red nails, Trixie –– yawned and sneezed._

_Sydney and Mark burst out laughing._

"_Okay," Sydney conceded, "Maybe just standing."_

XXXX

"Are you going to have a baby?"

Addison paused for a moment, she was changing one of the twins diapers and wasn't expecting that particular question. "No. Only married people have babies."

"I know," Daisy rolled her eyes as if that was obvious, "But after you and daddy get married. Are you going to have a baby then?"

"Why don't you talk to Roxie. I don't think she likes having her diaper changed."

"You should have a boy," Daisy decided, standing by Roxie's head and patting her head, "We have two girls."

"Do you really want a baby brother or sister?" Addison picked up Roxie and ran her fingers through Daisy's hair, "Can you get her bottle from her bag?"

"Yes," Daisy nodded.

"They cry a lot. And poop. And spit up on everything."

Daisy hesitated a moment, "But not always," she climbed up on the chair where Addison was preparing to feed the baby. "Can I do that?"

"Yup," Addison moved over and put her arm around Daisy as she squeezed in beside her, "Tilt it up like that. She'll help you hold it."

"I think a baby would be fun," Daisy said again, "When Emma's Mom got married she had a baby so that they were really a family."

"We're a family," Addison assured her, "You don't need a baby for that."

"I know. But Emma's baby belonged to everyone. Me and Ali have a Mom and we belong to her and Daddy, but you don't have any kids," she continued earnestly, "But the new baby would belong to all of us. Don't you want a baby?"

"I have you,"

Daisy was silent a moment, "I still think it would be fun."

XXXX

_1 year, 5 months and 1 day ago_

"_You know how this morning I yelled at you for leaving towels on the floor in the bathroom and then you said they were mine and I said they weren't because I used the red towels and the ones on the floor were beige."_

"_Yeah," Mark nodded._

"_And you know how I haven't talked to you since?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Even after I folded the laundry and found the red towels and realized that I had used them yesterday not this morning and that it was me that left the beige ones on the floor."_

_Mark smirked, "Yeah. I noticed that."_

"_Well, I'm sorry about that."_

"_It's okay."_

"_And __––__ I'm pregnant."_

XXXX

"We brought your children back," Geoff stepped through the door, arms ladened with bags, toys and carriers while Addison stepped in behind him carrying both babies.

"Babies," Sydney grinned stretching out her arms, "Hey, Chubbers," she kissed Roxie on the cheek and cuddled her for a moment, "How was my girl?"

"She was happy as long as she was being fed," Addison informed her as she crossed the room and deposited the other twin in Derek's arms with a small smile, "Meet me later?" she whispered.

Derek nodded and grinned, "I think we need a tissue over here," he said to Mark, stepping away from Addison and over to Meredith.

"Boogers," Mark reached over and wiped the baby's face, "Since the day she was born."

Geoff chuckled, "We hardly saw her all night, her and Ali are the best of friends so Ali sat in her room and played the guitar and 'Bea' just lounged on her bed and sang along."

"Bea?" Sydney said in surprise, studying Trixie's face, "Bee-ya, I like that. Bea," she smiled at her guests, "I'm just going to run them upstairs and throw them in bed."

"I'll help," Addison offered, rescuing Beatrix from Derek arms with a sly wink.

"Anytime you need a babysitter Mark, our girls love them," Geoffrey smiled, "Daisy is adamant about wanting one of her own."

Derek shifted uncomfortably and put his hand on Meredith's back.

"But Addison told her only married people can have babies. So, we're safe for awhile."

"Set a date yet." Mark asked causally.

"Not yet," he turned to Derek, "Was she this much trouble trying to plan your wedding? It's like pulling teeth getting her to pick a date."

"Not at all," Derek ignored the look he was getting from Mark, "But we'd only been together 2 months or so."

"4," Mark clarified; it didn't help much, but it was something, "You started dating in September, you married her over Christmas break."

"Right," Derek nodded, "4 months."

Geoffrey's jaw tensed slightly.

"We didn't plan much, we only had the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we had finals. We just got a cake and some flowers. Nothing fancy. Addison never cared about stuff like that back then."

"Derek," Mark warned.

"Well, maybe now she feels she missed out and wants to do it right."

Derek shrugged, "When you know, you know. No point in waiting."

Meredith stepped away from Derek's side, "I'm going to go help Sydney."

Geoff's eyes never left Derek's face, "Could you send Addison out?" he asked Meredith, "We should be getting home."

XXXX

_1 year, 10 months, 1 week and 5 days ago_

"_His mom is like MY mom."_

"_My mom IS my mom."_

"_I want you to meet her."_

"_Mark. You have to meet my family. You aren't getting out of this."_

"_I want you to meet my family too," Mark argued._

"_I will, but not over Christmas."_

"_Why not? You said you don't really celebrate. The Shepherd's do. We can visit your family any time."_

"_No, we won't. When are we going to make the time to come back to North Dakota?"_

"_Maybe we'll still be married next Christmas."_

"_Mark we are standing in the driveway of my parents house, and I doubt we will still be married in a year. Suck it up, you are meeting my parents." She turned to walk towards the house._

_He didn't follow._

"_Come on. I don't like them either, but you don't get to choose your family."_

"_Come get back in the car."_

_Sydney groaned and returned to slide back in the car. Mark was gripping the steering wheel._

"_What did you tell them about me?"_

"_Nothing. Just that we're married. I attached a wedding picture to the e-mail."_

"_What did they say?"_

"_It doesn't matter, Mark."_

"_Syd, I'm not good with parents," he admitted, "I rarely have to meet them. If they already hate me then I need to know."_

"_They think we are stupid for getting married, they think I should be on some sort of mood stabilizing medication, and they think that you are to good-looking and suave for me."_

"_You don't need meds," he said softly._

"_I know," she whispered back._

"_And you're beautiful."_

"_I know."_

"_And we aren't stupid."_

"_I know."_

"_And if we were, thats what I'd like about us."_

"_Me too."_

"_We haven't thought anything through since the moment we met."_

"_The lack of intelligent thought is really all we have going for us."_

"_Here," he reached in to the inside of his jacket and pulled out an envelope, "Merry Christmas."_

_Sydney opened it and read over the pages inside. Her eyes narrowed with confusion over the legal jargon, "Is it like a pre-nup?"_

"_Ya, kinda. I couldn't think of anything else."_

_She grinned, "If you cheat on me I get 5 million dollars? Are you even worth 5 million dollars?"_

"_No," he grinned, "You'd get everything and then some."_

"_I love it," she leaned over and kissed him soundly on the lips._

"_And I got you this," he handed her a small box, "We never got around to getting rings."_

"_I just made you a mixed CD," She opened the box excitedly, "Mark," she squealed as she slipped on the simple platinum and diamond ring, "I love it."_

"_There's a card too," he chuckled, moving closer._

_She flipped open the folded card stock and read his spiky handwriting as he whispered the same words in her ear._

"_I love you."_

_They had never said that to each other._

_She smiled and turned to face him, "I love you too."_

XXXX

"I want one of these," Meredith sighed as she brushed the hair out of one of the twins eyes.

"We have an extra if you want one."

Meredith chuckled.

"Was Julie planned?" Sydney asked as she tidied up the nursery.

"No," Meredith smiled, "But it felt like she was, we just weren't in on the plan."

Sydney smiled.

"But I don't think Derek wants another baby. He's… I don't know. Has he said anything to Mark?"

"About what?"

"I don't know. He's just so weird lately. Quiet. Kinda moody. He picked a fight with Geoff right before I came up, I don't know. We've been talking about getting married, but he still hasn't proposed so I don't think that he wants that either. And I'm just getting sick of it. I'm just… I'm ready for something good to happen for us and he just seems to want everything to stay the same. Our relationship has sucked, why can't we do something good with it when we are finally in a place where we can do it."

"Maybe he needs time."

"He didn't need time with Addison. He married her after four months. That's not fair. We've been together three years, I had his baby –– what did she do in those 4 months that I'm not doing."

"Addison and Derek are passionate and stupid. It sounds like thats why they got married and it's certainly why they got divorced. Maybe he is trying to be rational with you. I think you are over thinking this."

"Ya, I guess," Meredith sighed, "When you aren't talking you're a really good listener."

Sydney smiled, "Only happens on the quarter-moons," she started detaching Roxie from around her next and held her over the side of her sisters crib, "Kiss good-night," she instructed them, laughing when they bumped heads together.

"They are so cute," Meredith smiled.

"I know," Sydney paused at the door as she turned out the light, "Look, they watch each other when they are falling asleep. Babies, sleepy-time. No talking."

XXXX

_1 year, 11 months, 2 weeks and 3 days ago_

"_You know what I always thought sucked about Seattle?"_

"_What?" He took a bite of his chocolate bar. He'd considered buying her one, but he didn't think they were there yet._

"_You can't really elope in Seattle. I always thought that would be fun."_

"_Callie eloped."_

"_But they had to go to Vegas. It was a whole weekend. In Seattle you can't just get a marriage license and get married over lunch. You have to get the license and wait like 3 days. You have to plan. It ruins the whole idea of eloping."_

"_But in Nevada you can also get quickie annulments. You want to keep the romance alive, you go in and get the license over lunch and then spend the weekend consummating it. On Monday you get married but tell yourself you are really just deciding to not get it annulled –– instead you actually go through with it. That's romantic."_

"_I guess," Sydney hit the start button to send through her fax, "Want to have lunch with me today? We can stop by city hall and get a marriage license."_

_Mark stared at her dumbfounded for a moment. _

"_Or we could just go to Idaho tomorrow."_

"_Ya," he grinned, "Ok."_

XXXX

"The girls asleep?" Addison crossed her legs and continued flipping through the channels. As soon as the Russell Crowe interview played on Kimmel she was leaving for the trailer.

"Daisy is. Ali's on the phone."

Addison nodded but kept her eyes trained on the TV.

"Why won't you pick a date?"

Addison looked up in surprise.

"Why aren't you excited about planning our wedding?"

"We've been busy. I––"

"You managed to plan your wedding to Derek in a month, during med school finals. You have plenty of time to look at a calender."

"Why were you talking to Derek about our wedding?"

"We were making small talk. Four _months_ Addison. You married him after four months and you can't pick a date after a year and a half?"

"You really want me to do things the same as I did with Derek? Is that what you want? Because that turned out so well for every one."

"When you know you know. Why you aren't sure about us?"

Addison's eyes narrowed, "You aren't allowed to talk to Derek anymore," she stood up and crossed the room to her closet to find a sweat-shirt, "He's jealous. He's saying these things so we'll fight. Don't listen to him."

"So he's lying?" Geoffrey asked sarcastically.

"No," Addison shot back, "He's not. We got married fast. Very fast. But that has nothing to do with us. I don't want to make the same mistakes again. I want us to _work_."

"Sometimes,"Geoffrey shook his head, "I feel like I don't know you. You seem so open, but then I talk to your friends and I start to realize that I know _nothing_ about you."

"You know _everything_ about me."

"I know_ nothing_ about your marriage. I know how it ended. I have no idea what you did for the entire decade you were married. You know everything about my ex-wife. We've talked about everything about me, you've said nothing about you."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why _not_."

"Because we were_ happy_. We were happy and I don't want to talk about it because I don't want to remember it. I was happy with him and if I start talking about it, and I start remembering how happy I was I'm not going to be able to be with you."

"Where are you going?" he demanded, grabbing her arm as she reached the door.

"To the hospital," she pulled away.

"You're leaving?"

"I don't want to say something I'll regret."

XXXX

_1 year, 11 months, 2 weeks and 5 days ago_

_Mark leaned against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. He was in a bad mood. What kind of 28 year-old goes into cardiac arrest during a Rhinoplasty?_

"_Hey." Derek set his charts down on the counter, "Rough morning?"_

_Mark didn't justify that with a response. He caught sight of Sydney walking towards them and braced himself. She was know for trying to cheer people up with bone crushing hugs. And unless this hugging was done naked and horizontally, Mark wasn't interested._

_He could feel her sizing him up._

"_Dr. Shepherd? I have a question for you."_

"_Yes, Dr. Heron?"_

"_I was wondering… is there a danger of like, brain aneurysms with repeated orgasms."_

_Derek was silent a moment. "No."_

"_Not even the really strong ones? If you have like… 5 in a row?"_

"_No."_

"_Like pulling muscles in your neck and back strong. Dislocating your own toes strong?" She touched her hand to the back of her neck, turning it slowly like it was very painful._

"_No."_

"_Okay," Sydney nodded. "What about just a lot of orgasms over the course of a few days. Say close to 20 over a weekend. Can that cause brain damage? All that blood rushing in and out of your head like that? And when your mind blackouts when it gets a really intense. Should I be worried about that?"_

_Derek cleared his throat, "No."_

"_Okay. What about if you're upside down?"_

"_Sydney! No. Sex is not going to cause spontaneous brain damage."_

"_Well thats a relief. I thought I was going to have to cut back or something," She smiled sweetly at Derek and gave Mark a sly wink as she turned away._

_Mark grinned. He was having a good day._

XXXX

"I have to run to the hospital," Derek kissed the crown of her head, "I'll see you in the morning? Breakfast at the cafe at 6?"

Meredith nodded.

"What are you reading?"

"Your wedding album."

Derek was very still for a moment, "Why?"

"Because I couldn't find the VCR to watch the video."

"Why would you want to watch that?"

"I'm curious," she looked up at him, "Is that okay?" she asked, her voice challenging him.

Derek was silent for a moment, "Yeah, thats fine," he kissed her again, "I'll see you in the morning."

XXXX

_1 year, 11 months and 3 weeks ago_

_Mark awoke to something different._

_He could almost feel the other human presence in his home. She wasn't in bed, but her clothes were still strewn on the floor. He got up and padded naked to the bathroom. Steam clouded the mirror but had warmed the tile so his feet stayed warm. There was an abandoned cup of coffee by the sink and a towel tossed over the top of the shower; but she wasn't in there either. _

_He quickly showered and wrapped the towel around his waist before picking up the coffee cup and heading downstairs to the kitchen. The coffee had about 8 cups of sugar and he winced as he sipped at it. He found her leaning against the counter eating cereal and watching a talk show._

"_Morning," he said gruffly, not quite awake. He leaned into her and rested his chin on the top of her head. She was really tiny, much smaller then he was. And cute. With her hair down and when she wasn't constantly talking._

"_You found my coffee," she trade her cereal for it, and he kissed her hard._

"_We should go back to bed," he rasped in her ear._

"_I am going to tell everyone at work that you love to cuddle," she informed him, putting her coffee on the counter and wrapping her arms around him, "I'm going to systematically destroy your playboy reputation until you're utterly incapable of finding a date."_

"_I'm not worried," he caressed her jaw lightly, "You don't have the attention span to follow through on something like that."_

"_I have a short attention span? In less then a year you've slept with almost the entire female staff of the biggest hospital in Seattle. I've slept over 3 times in 4 nights; so you must be about ready to move on."_

"_There's no one left to move on too. I'll be stuck marrying you," he teased, tracing her navel with his knuckle, "But right now I just want to get you back in bed," he pulled her towards the bedroom door, "Grab the caffeine and that box of cereal, we're going to get hungry."_

XXXX

Derek stepped out of the shower and glanced at the clock. He thought that Addison would be there by now. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and collapsed onto the bed. He had no intention on moving from that bed until the alarm went off at least 3 times and Addison dragged him out by force.

He sank into the mattress, letting his mind wander to Addison and the things he was going to do to her when she walked in the door. On cue the door opened, then slammed shut.

"What did you say to him?" she demanded, her hands on her hips as she stood at the end of the bed.

"Who?" Derek sat up slowly.

"_Who?_ Geoffrey. What did you say."

"Nothing. He asked about our wedding."

"And?"

"And I told him."

"_And_."

"That's it. That's all I said."

"It is not all you said. He thinks I don't want to marry him. He thinks I haven't picked a date because… I dunno… subconsciously I don't think we are meant to be together. He thinks he doesn't know me. _What did you say to him_?!"

"_I just answered his question!"_

Addison glared at him and turned on her heel.

"Your leaving?"

She didn't answer, just slammed the door as she left.

XXXX

_1 year, 11 months, 1 week and 1 day ago_

"_You are aware––"_

_Mark paused as he crossed the parking lot._

"_That Addison purposely sent in Izzie to catch you and Callie," Sydney threw her witches hat in the back seat of her car and slammed the door._

"_I suspected, yeah."_

"_I find it hard to believe that no one else noticed her following him in there, or him following her out."_

"_No one else knows what to look for," he crossed over to stand by her, "You look cute."_

"_Thanks," she tugged his Zorro mask out of his hand and held it against her eyes, "I can see why women were fighting over you tonight." She reached up and touched his cheek, "She slapped you pretty hard."_

"_Ya. That was about done anyway."_

"_And Callie?"_

"_Callie wanted to get laid. Badly."_

"_And you?"_

_Mark paused for a moment. Resting a knuckle under her chin, he tilted her lips towards his and gently kissed her, softening the kiss every time she tried to deepen it, "I want to take you home with me," he said softly, tucking her hair behind her ear and not moving his hands away from her face._

"_Okay."_

XXXX

"I thought she was asleep."

"I thought she was too," Sydney wandered into the bedroom, a baby in her arms, "Ms. Gluttony decided she needed a snack."

"Wean her," Mark sighed.

"She's only 9 months old," Sydney protested, "She'll wean when she's ready."

Mark looked at her over the rims of his reading glasses, "I want your breasts to myself for a few months before Mark junior arrives and I can only look and not touch. I like the touching. Your breasts are very touchable."

"I'm not even pregnant yet."

"I have a good feeling about the couch."

Sydney chuckled.

"My son is in there implanting himself as we speak. That stick said it was the right time, I used the right positions, I made you lay down for 20 minutes –– it's fool proof."

"Am I going to have anything to do with the conception of the male-child?"

"Merely a vessel, honey."

"After the birth of the mini-manwhore, can the vessel get some free plastic surgery from the baby-daddy? I rather not sag. I need to start scouting out a new meal ticket."

He scanned her body, not a hard feat considering she was only wearing cotton short-shorts. "No. Unnecessary. Besides you'll be busy with child-bearing until you're 45."

"I'm 32."

"I'm not saying it will be easy. But it's our lot in life to fill the world with beautiful children."

"At the expense of my ass?"

"We all have to make sacrifices."

"Are you still going to want to impregnate me when I'm 39 and I've just had your 7th kid? Just picture it for a moment."

He glanced up at her again, "I have a friend. I'll give you his card."

XXXX

_Exactly 2 years ago_

"_What are they doing?"_

_Mark shrugged and added more detail to his sketches of the conjoined twins and the skin graphs he was marking._

"_Do they always take an hour, in private, to review overnight labs?"_

_Mark glanced up and stared through the glass partition at Addison and Derek who were talking over a tableful of papers. His eyes narrowed pensively._

"_Do you think we're the only people that know they are sleeping together?"_

_Mark turned to stare at Sydney._

"_How do I know?" she posed his unasked question, "I shared a very thin canvas wall with her in Africa. I overheard things."_

_Mark walked a bit closer, "Like what?"_

"_Like steamy late-night phone calls."_

"_She could have been calling her boyfriend."_

_Sydney raised an eyebrow, "Somehow, I really don't think she was."_

_Mark crossed his arms and leaned against the counter beside her, still watching Addison and Derek, "I don't know anything," he said slowly._

"_But it wouldn't surprise you?"_

"_Not exactly." _

_Sydney hoisted herself up onto the counter and picked up the model-babies that they had constructed to practice the separation on. "Why didn't you end up with Addison?"_

"_Who says I won't?"_

_Sydney shot him a look._

_Mark shrugged, "I slept with a married woman who was still in love with her husband. Sleeping with me makes her want to take long hot showers, not never get out of bed."_

"_That's what you want? Never to get out of bed? That's love to you?"_

"_It's a good start."_

"_Did you fall in love with her before or after you slept with her?"_

_Mark glanced at her out of the corner of his eye but didn't reply._

"_Why don't you ever hit on me?"_

"_Because you're clinically insane."_

"_Who isn't?"_

_Mark chuckled in spite of himself, but chose not to reply._

"_Am I the only one left that you haven't hit on? Because I've even seen you hit on Patricia."_

"_Patricia is the most powerful person in this hospital."_

"_Patricia has grandchildren and corns on her feet."_

_Mark laughed._

"_I'm growing on you aren't I?"_

"_You're funny," Mark admitted, "But still crazy."_

"_Just don't fall in love with me."_

_Mark smirked, "Don't worry about it."_

_Sydney grinned at him, "I have an infectious personality," she locked eyes with him, "Which is far more desirable then what I can only imagine is infectious about you."_

_Mark laughed right out loud, "You're right. I'm falling in love with you. I'm actually considering marriage."_

"_I do," she joked, "How's Monday for the ceremony?"_

"_I have a patient."_

"_Well, that's to bad. It was a fun idea."_

_They smiled at each other, then lapsed into silence for a few minutes._

"_What about Callie Torres?"_

"_What about her?"_

"_Do you like her?"_

"_Ya, I like her."_

"_Are you sleeping with her?"_

"_No."_

"_Why?"_

"_You ask a lot of questions."_

"_I'm making awkward small talk."_

"_Weather is awkward small talk. Not my sex life."_

"_Well it's Seattle –– it's raining –– so, I think we have the weather covered for the next month. And your sex life seems to be the only life you have."_

"_Jealous?" He moved a bit closer, his eyes gleaming._

"_Of your sad pathetic life. Unattached sex and waking up alone every single morning with a hard-on but no warm body to make it worth it?"_

"_I like sleepovers. I slept over at Izzie Steevens' a few nights ago."_

"_You're more complex then I give you credit for, Dr. Sloan," Sydney grinned, her eyes sparkling as his narrowed._

"_I don't like sleeping alone." He look a step towards her and put a hand on either side of her on the counter. _

_Sydney watched him, his face inches away. Her expression didn't change, she continued to look mildly amused._

_His eyes narrowed further._

"_Is this how you do it? Pick women up?"_

"_No," he turned his face away._

"_Hit on me," she followed his movements, "I'm curious."_

_He turned back to her and flashed a smile, "You know, I've always thought that you would be a natural in emergency medicine. You have the most beautiful emerald eyes."_

_Sydney raised an eyebrow, the same smile still on her face, "I get it. I have green eyes, the ER doctors wear green scrubs. It's not bad."_

"_I usually have more to work with."_

"_Oh, ok," Sydney reached out and looped her finger in the neck and pulled him closer and pressed their lips lightly together._

_Mark quickly caught on and seize the opportunity to show off. He cupped her chin and tilted her head back and slightly to the side as he eased her lips apart and deepened the kiss._

"_Hmmm," Sydney pulled away and studied his cocky grin, "You're pretty good."_

"_Pretty good," he smirked, his voice low and seductive as he leaned in again, "Let me take you to the on-call room next door."_

"_I said I was curious," she hopped off the counter, "Not interested," She crossed the room and rapped on the window getting Addison and Derek's attention for the first time in over an hour, "Or easy."_

_Mark stared at her._

"_Maybe I will be tomorrow."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Let's make this fun.

The person to use the most…. S-words in a coherent way gets 37 cool points and a request of some sort… we'll work it out.


	5. Walls Fall Down

The tennis playing friends are back. Geoffrey and Meredith are getting a tad impatient with their heel-dragging significant others and take rather different approaches to dealing with it. It's a little tense but generally light hearted.

I hope you enjoy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Derek paced slowly down the hospital corridor. He paused and opened yet another on-call room door, slowly, and without letting his eyes settle on anything lest he see something he didn't want to. But all he saw was Addison curled up on one of the upper bunks.

Silently he crossed the floor and rested his forearm on the bunk. Softly he ran the pad of his thumb over her features, smoothing over her eyebrows –– raised quizzically even in sleep –– and across her cheekbones and lips.

Her eyes sprang open as his index finger tapped against the bridge of her nose.

"What?" she demanded.

She was so wide awake it left no doubt in Derek's mind that she had never been asleep. "I'm sorry," he sad simply. He rested both his arms on the bed and looked at her sheepishly, "I was a jackass."

She blinked slowly and sat up, crossing her legs beneath her.

"I shouldn't have said anything to your boyfriend. I'm sorry. I'll never talk to him again."

Addison smiled but didn't look up.

"Addison," he looked up at her, his eyes imploring her to except his apology.

"Help me down," Addison reached out her arms and settled them on his shoulders and he rested his hands firmly on her waist and eased her off the bunk. They stood close together for a moment and she slid her hands down to rest on his chest, and stared at the plaid of his shirt, "Fiancé," she looked him in the eye, "He's my fiancé, Derek. I'm going to marry him. But when you say things like that it makes it harder for all of us. Okay?"

He nodded, "Okay."

"Alright," she looked away, acutely aware that they were breaking their 'no touching in the hospital' rule. She stepped away. "We're suppose to meet Joanie and Rob for tennis in an hour. I'll meet you there?"

He nodded and dropped his hands away from her waist, "I'll take you to lunch."

She smiled, "Okay," she kissed him lightly on the cheek, "I'll see you later."

XXXX

"Who is this?" Meredith held up a picture and Derek squinted to look at it.

"That's Addison's stepmother," Derek replied dully, he was sick of this game, "I don't really know her that well."

"And this?"

"My Uncle. Robert. My Mom's brother. He's dead. That's Kathleen's rehearsal dinner, I didn't know Addison then, thats why she's not there. Robert walked Kathleen down the aisle." Derek provided as much detail as he could think of knowing that Meredith would just ask if he didn't.

"You had a dog?"

Derek glanced at the picture, then reached out to take it from her, "No. We got her for Anna for her birthday right after her brother was born. She was a little jealous of him. Addison would have kept the puppy if I'd let her, but we didn't have time for it." Derek smiled at the picture of Addison and the puppy, it was one of his favorites, "She's always wanted a dog."

Meredith watched him carefully, "Why didn't you have kids? Really."

Derek sighed, "I wanted to. Addison wanted to wait until her practice settled down, which I knew would never happen, but it was her uterus so she got the deciding vote."

"Did you fight about it?"

"Yeah. We did."

"What else did you fight about?"

Derek sighed again. He'd noticed a few calls to his former sister-in-law and felt she was to blame for the Seattle Inquisition that showed to signs of ending. "I don't know Meredith. We didn't fight that much. In retrospect that might have been part of the problem."

"Do you still want kids?"

"Of course," he replied quickly, staring at her in surprise.

She smiled for the first time all morning, "Me too."

XXXX

Addison stormed down the hall her cheeks flaming. She had _just_ changed into her tennis dress when her pager went off. The zipper that broke when she was frantically trying to get out of the dress meant that she was still wearing it and was getting some unnerving looks from the staff.

"Well, well." Mark came up behind her and tugged at one of the pigtail braids she had put in her hair, "Addy-Sue."

"Shut up, Mark," she ripped the chart from the outstretched hand of the nurse, "I was going to play tennis and I got a 911 page. I don't want to hear any…. page Dr. Shepherd. I should have done neuro too, save me a consult."

"I'm right here."

Addison turned to see Derek and Meredith standing a few feet behind her.

Derek smiled, "Addy-Sue."

"I don't understand," Meredith said, looking between the two expectantly.

"He is implying that I am some sort of back country bumpkin because of my hair. And because _they_ are jerks and are just _jealous_ because Derek _Christopher_ is boring and _Marcus Xavier Thaddeus _is ridiculous and not _nearly _as _classy_ as Addison _Suzanne_ Forbes Montgomery."

"Oh."

Addison smiled at Meredith, "Can you go start ordering labs and see when we can get her in for scans."

"Sure," Meredith smiled back and disappeared down the hall.

Addison turned back to Derek, "Why are you still here?"

"They cancelled," he replied simply, "Rob called but he was in a rush. I was going to call you but you were already on your way back."

Addison nodded and continued reading through the chart, "This is not 911-page worthy," she groaned, "Pregnant with a sleep disorder. Ridiculous. I rushed back here in this for this–– in _this_." She spat.

"I think you look cute."

She ignored him, staring intently at the chart, "We have a situation. A big ugly situation."

"We? or _we_?"

"Both," Addison looked at him grimly, "The patient is _Joanie Fischer_."

"Well," Derek reached for the phone, "Meredith is off the case."

"These are the tennis-pals you've been lying too? You guys," Mark chuckled, "Are in trouble."

"Shut up Mark." Addison sighed and locked eyes with Derek, "What do we do?"

"Do you think," Derek mused, "That Joanie will let a fisherman operate on her brain?"

"Well, she has an OB that is trained in absolutely nothing else overseeing her case so…"

"I think the real question is is she going to let a _tennis-pro_ oversee the care of her fetus," Mark grinned as he eyed her bare legs.

"Ugh," Addison groaned, "I'm going to change," she spotted Alex walking towards them, "I need your help."

"Trouble with your backhand?"

"Zipper. Ass." She shot a look at Derek, "Get Meredith out."

Ten minutes later she came back to see Meredith just departing.

"Okay," Meredith smiled, "Well, I'll be upstairs if you need me then." She kissed Derek on the cheek, "Bye Babe."

Addison watched as Meredith walked away, "Babe?"

"You've called me babe."

"And you hate it. Especially when other people are around."

"Maybe I don't mind when she does it."

"Is she allowed to call you sweetie pie too?"

Derek glared at her and rested his hand on the door to 2310, "You know this is the first time we have had to confess."

"Better them then my fiancé."

Derek pushed the door open and Addison walked past him into the room.

"Addison?" Joanie looked up in surprise, "What are you… Derek?"

Derek closed the door carefully behind him and stood next to Addison.

"Joanie. Rob," Addison began, squaring her shoulders, "We have a confession to make." She took a deep breath, "My name is Addison _Montgomery_. You're here for a consult with me. I'm a Neonatal specialist."

"She's the best," Derek interjected.

Addison smiled at him, "And Derek isn't a fisherman ––although he'd like to be–– he's actually the Head of Neurology here. He'll be running all your tests and performing any procedures you might need."

Joanie and Rob stared at them, jaws slack.

"And we aren't married," Addison confessed, taking a seat by the bed, "We're divorced, actually. We are so sorry we lied to you. We really like you guys."

"I…" Joanie looked to her husband," I don't know what to say."

"We know that we are… " Derek took a seat beside Addison and rested his elbows on his knees, "The thing is, people here, they don't know… that we play tennis," he finished lamely.

Addison gave him a look, "We get that you probably don't want to… be our friends anymore, and we get that, but we really are the best surgeons in the city. So don't let the fact that we lied to you affect your treatment."

Joanie glanced at her husband then back at Addison and Derek, "That's not really a huge lie," she said finally, abet uncertainly, "Just jobs, I guess. And the married thing, I guess, is a technicality. You were married, now your just… rekindling? It's romantic."

Derek cleared his throat, "Actually. The doctor that was just in here, Dr. Grey? We're… she's my… we're together."

"And I'm engaged," Addison held up her hand to show her ring, "He's a doctor with a couple sports teams." She sighed, "I know we are horrible people."

"You're cheating," Rob said simply, clarifying.

"Yes," Addison confirmed, wincing as she did so.

"But only with each other."

Addison glared at Derek, "That doesn't matter."

"I think it does," he muttered back, "I wouldn't cheat with just anyone."

Addison rolled her eyes and turned back to their friends who were engaged in an intense silent conversation.

"You're the best?" Joanie asked.

"The very best," Addison nodded.

"Okay then."

"Really?" Addison smiled. She stood and walked closer to the bed grinning gratefully.

"They're really separate matters," Joanie looked up at her husband who nodded in agreement, "And it's not like we can be picky, you're our only friends in Seattle."

Rob cleared his throat, "We can't tell you how to live your lives."

Addison and Derek exchanged looks. It wasn't acceptance, but it was close.

Addison look a step forward and took Joanie's hand,. "I can't believe that you didn't tell me you're pregnant."

"We all have our secrets."

XXXX

"Hey."

"Hi. What are you doing here?" Callie asked. Closing her chart she turned to Geoffrey and gave him her full attention.

"I came to apologize to Addison," he smiled weakly, "I may have picked a bit of a fight with her last night and she spent the night here.

"Good move. What are you fighting about?"

"The wedding," he sighed, "Has she said anything to you? Any plans or… has she asked you to be a bridesmaid yet?"

Callie shrugged and gave him a confused look, "Me and Addison aren't really as close anymore."

"She didn't ask you to be a bridesmaid?"

"No. I assumed that she was just having her sister."

"Adrienne?"

"Ya. I thought she'd be doing all the girly wedding-y things with her."

"Maybe."

"I also thought you were getting married like a year ago, so what do I know."

"Why? Did she say something then?"

"This was before she lost the baby Geoff. I think that changed things."

"Not for me."

Callie smiled sympathetically, "Maybe she just needs a push."

XXXX

"It wasn't a problem until I got pregnant," Joanie explained, "I always attributed it to my lifestyle, I thought it was my artistic soul. Why sleep when I could be playing music or creating something? But with the baby, I knew I needed more then just an hour or 2 of sleep at a time. But I couldn't, and I'm so exhausted all the time and I just can't sleep no matter what I try."

Rob continued, "We thought it was psychological but after a month of things getting worse the psychologist suggested that we come here,"

Addison nodded, "Well Derek seems to think it's your brain stem, he's talking to some specialists in Boston; but he's confident that that's where the problem is, and that he can fix it."

Rob squeezed his wife's hand.

"What I'm concerned with is the effects that your sleeplessness has had on your baby. He's small, but active –– which is good. But organs like his heart and lungs aren't as developed as they should be. But thats okay," Addison continued when she saw the panic on their faces, "I'm going to start you on some medication that will help with lung development and we are going to monitor his heart rate carefully. You are 23 weeks along, so we don't want to deliver him yet, but the surgery is invasive so there are some risks."

Joanie nodded, "But we don't have a choice do we."

"There's always a choice," Addison assured her, "But Derek and I are the best. And we'd like to keep our friends," she smiled, "So you better believe we are going to beat this. We are the most stubborn and determined people you will ever meet."

XXXX

"Addison."

Addison stopped short as she stepped out of Joanie's room, Derek was still inside talking to them. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize," he explained as he stepped closer and took her hand, "I shouldn't have implied that you don't want to get married."

"I do."

"I know," he smiled, "That's why I am apologizing."

"I'm sorry I got mad and left," Addison looked down at her hand that was engulfed in his.

"I'm sorry I made you leave." He smiled at her, touching her chin and tilting her face up to look at him, "I'll never do it again."

She laughed softly under her breath, smiling as he kissed her, and stepping away when she heard the door opening behind her.

"Derek," Geoffrey spoke first, "I want to apologize for what I said to you last night. It was uncalled for."

Derek stood stunned for a moment. He glanced at Addison, her eyes were wide with surprise, but she stared at him expectantly when he hesitated.

"Ya," Derek held out his hand, "Me too."

Geoffrey shook his hand, smiling warmly, still holding on to Addison, "I was going to ask Addison out to lunch, care to join us?"

"I can't today," Addison cut in, "This patient…"

"And I have plans with Meredith."

"Well, another time then."

"Absolutely," Derek replied with false enthusiasm. Shooting Addison a look as she was pulled away, he rolled his eyes as she shrugged apologetically. Joining Addison and her _fiancé_ for lunch was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

"Why did you ask Derek to lunch with us?"

"I though it would be nice."

"I don't want to have lunch with my ex-husband and his girlfriend."

"You've had lunch with him before."

"Not on a double date."

"One-on-one is better?"

Addison paused, "Have you ever had sex in a hospital?"

Geoffrey's eyes lit up, "No."

"Do you want too?"

Geoffrey nodded silently.

She grinned and squeezed his hand, her eyes darting around. She pulled him into the closest empty room and closed the lockless door.

"Now," she said quietly, stepping away from him, "There are rules for this," she whispered seductively as she dragged her hands up her legs, hiking up her skirt and smoothly tugging off her panties. "We have to be quick," she reached out for him and pulled him closer until his body was pressing her against the door. "We have to be quiet," she unbuckled his pants and pushed them down to pool at his ankles. She dragged her nails up his legs, then tugged down his boxers and ran her nails over his ass, "And," she warned as he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him, "You have to make me scream."

XXXX

"Hey."

"Hi," Joanie said slowly, closing her tabloid magazine.

"Addison said if I had time to kill I should come talk to you," Sydney explained, "You're the tennis friend right?"

"Yes," Joanie replied, sizing Sydney up.

"I know about them," Sydney replied easily as she slouched in her chair, "Probably why she sent me. Safer."

"Probably," Joanie said slowly.

"She's a good doctor though. She delivered my twins."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She's a horrible girlfriend and an awful wife. But she's a good doctor," Sydney eyed Joanie knowingly, "You're curious aren't you."

"I'm dying to know," Joanie sat up and crossed her legs under her, "What is going on? They are married, they aren't married, they are sleeping together? They're hot shot _surgeons,_ he has a beautiful girlfriend and I saw her fiancé outside the room earlier and I wanted to lick him––"

"In a nutshell? She slept with my husband. I don't blame her. He's very bitable."

XXXX

"Big wedding or small wedding?"

Derek turned towards Meredith, and gave her an amused yet exasperated look, "Are we still talking about me and Addison?"

"Yes."

"It was just family. Which turned out to be way more people then we anticipated."

"Where did you go on your honeymoon?"

"We wanted to go to Paris, but we only had a four day weekend so we went to Quebec. It was very cold."

"Where did you live?"

"We had an apartment close to campus. When my grandmother died we moved into the little house for a few years and then we moved to the City."

"I'm glad we already have a house and we won't have to move around."

"Me too." Derek smiled, "Actually, you wanted to know what we fought about? Moving. We had a lot of fights about living accommodations and decorating and furniture placement."

"We don't fight about that at all."

"No, we don't."

"What about us? Big wedding or small?"

Derek cocked his head to the side, "Medium sized. No one getting left out, but not a bunch of people we don't know."

Meredith's smile grew. "Honeymoon?"

"Hawaii?" Derek suggested, "Somewhere warm." He grinned, "Somewhere you can wear a bikini."

"You make it sound like we'll be leaving the room," she leaned closer, "We won't."

XXXX

"Hey Cal," Geoffrey spoke into his phone, "I have a quick question."

"Sure," Callie shrugged her shoulders at Alex in apology.

"What time of year do you think Addison wants to get married? I want to narrow it down for her."

"I don't know. Addison seems like a summer wedding person to me, I guess."

Alex shook his head.

"Or spring?"

Alex nodded.

"Spring."

"And would she want all her sisters in the wedding party? Or just Adrienne?"

"Probably just Adrienne."

"What is he doing?" Alex murmured.

"I think he's planning his wedding."

"Without Addison?"

"He's just getting things started."

"She's going to kill him."

"Not my problem."

"Who are you with?" Geoffrey asked, still on the phone.

"Alex," Callie replied, "We're just having lunch."

"Where?"

"_Nina's_."

"The date place?"

"It's not…"

"It is," Geoff exclaimed, "I've taken Addison there. It's the place you go when you are going public to the hospital."

"It is not."

Geoff was silent.

"Fine, it is."

"You're dating Alex."

Callie was silent a long moment. "Yeah."

Geoff took this in, "Well that's great."

"Yeah."

"We should all do something together sometime."

"Ya, that would be fun."

"Okay. I'll let you go then."

"Okay."

"She's a redhead. And Adrienne is a redhead… so green bridesmaids dresses and stuff?"

"Green? Ya. Sounds good."

"I'll see you later."

"Ya. Bye."

Alex reached over and stole one of her breadsticks. "That wasn't awkward or anything."

"No," Callie said quietly, distracted, "Not at all."

XXXX

"I don't know if this is ridiculous or romantic."

"Romantically ridiculous or ridiculously romantic," Sydney nodded, "It's one or the other."

"I never knew he had a daughter," Joanie crossed her arms around her stomach.

Sydney nodded, "I think things would be different if she hadn't died. Meredith took it hard, understandably; but Derek, I think, found it difficult to take care of her and deal with his own grief. He made the decision to take the baby off the life support machines –– I think that a big reason why they are together now is that Addison was there for that and she was supportive despite the fact that he left her for Meredith–– again."

"She seems to smart for that."

"I think she's in love with him," Sydney replied simply, propping her feet up on the end of the bed, "And I don't think that Derek wanted to leave her the second time. I think he felt he had too."

"They acted married."

"I think part of them still is," Sydney touched her growling stomach, "I need to eat. But I'll come back later. I think we should be friends."

Joanie smiled, her first genuine smile since she was admitted to the hospital, "I'd like that."

XXXX

"Your boyfriend," Alex cornered Addison as she stepped of the elevator, "Is planning your wedding."

"He's what?"

"Planning your wedding. I was at lunch with Callie and he was calling asking what you'd want."

Addison turned and stared disbelievingly at her friend.

"So I hope you want a spring wedding with green dresses for your bridesmaids –– who are Adrienne, Callie and Ali by the way."

XXXX

"I have a question for you."

Mark continued up the stairs not breaking pace to allow Meredith to keep up, "I heard you were playing the question game today."

"It's about Addison."

"I assumed."

"How did she get him to marry her to fast?"

"She didn't put out."

Meredith stopped short, "Really?"

"It's Addison," Mark scoffed, "I think they skipped their first date in favor of staying in bed. Dating was a formality for them so they had stories to tell their parents and future grandkids. I woke up one morning and Addison was there wearing his clothes. Suddenly they were engaged, 10 minutes later they got married."

"But how?"

Mark chuckled, "Men are simple beings Meredith. Their desires are not complex."

"She did not… he did not marry her because she is good in bed."

Mark shrugged and smirked to himself.

"He did not. She's not… what is she doing that would make him do that?"

Mark shook his head and walked away.

"Did she have tricks? What did she do?"

Mark simply smiled and kept walking.

"I'm not seducing him into marrying me!" she called after him, "I'm not that kind of girl. I'm not Addison."

XXXX

"You're planning our wedding without me?" Addison spat into her phone.

"I'm just gathering ideas."

"You've picked a time, a colour scheme and my bridesmaids. Should I look for a dress or are you handling that too?"

"You are welcome to pick your own dress, so long as you do it in this _millennia_."

"I hope you enjoyed sleeping alone last night."

XXXX

Derek trudged slowly up the stairs, dropping his jacket over the banister. His mind was already on the warm shower and cool sheets that waited for him. He could hear soft music playing and silently he prayed that Meredith was not currently in the bathtub, delaying his shower, and using all the hot water.

He stepped through the open bedroom door and paused.

"Damn it," Meredith muttered, "Damn it damn it damn it."

Derek stuffed his hands in his pockets and sauntered over to the bed were Meredith was kneeling wiping at something on the comforter, "What's going on?"

Meredith jumped in surprise, spinning around to face him. Her face relaxed as she recognized him and she crawled towards him on her knees, her eyes disappointed. She sighed and buried her face in the crook of his next.

He chuckled, "What's going on?"

She sighed again –– heavily –– and pulled away, "I was trying to surprise you," she unconsciously adjusted the bra strap of her powder blue lingerie set and turned back to bed, "But then I knocked one of the candles onto the bed and got wax on everything."

"It will come out," he assured her.

"I'm just going to replace everything."

Derek wrapped his arms around her bare waist and kissed her shoulder, "You could have set the bed on fire."

"That was my plan," she teased, "This just isn't how I was planning on doing it."

"How were you planning on doing it?"

She grinned coyly and wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. She kissed him slowly, pecking at his lips softly and nudging his lips apart until he complied. "Why don't you lay back and I'll show you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It's so close to over I can taste it. It tastes sweet.

So I'm at my parents house so you guys should write me tons of awesome and hilarious comments and reviews cause I am going to be soooooo bored. And also anything that you guys want to see happen now would be the time to inspire me. I mean I kinda have this thing mapped out, but I'm open to suggestions. Nothing is set in stone until I literally post it. As I'm writing this note there is a chance that the whole plot of this chapter could change. Or if you just want to see people take a trip to the zoo –– I might be able to do that. Okay, maybe not the zoo, that would be too random for words…

Anyway, the next chapter brings family, jealousy, bonding, more people finding out about Addek, maybe some other fun stuff. I think it will be good.

Review or I'll shun you :P.


	6. Swing

Okay I'm posting this now cause I have an interview in a little over an hour and I'd kinda like some nice reviews to come home too.

I'm nervous.

On many levels.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So," Mark crossed his chart ladened arms across his chest, "Between the two of them, how much would you say you get?"

"What?" Derek asked, distracted by the weird lab results he had just gotten back.

"Between," Mark repeated slowly, pausing between each word, "The _two_ of them, how _much_ are you _getting_?"

Derek stared at him a moment, "It varies."

"An average week, how many times?"

"It varies."

"Okay, this week."

"This week starting Monday or this week starting last Friday."

"Since Friday."

"Maybe 5."

"5? Between the two of them?"

"Yeah."

"Buddy, I'm getting more then that with just one."

Derek shrugged.

"What's the division?"

"Division?"

"How much with each."

"3 and 2."

"Meredith is the three?"

Derek nodded.

"You've managed to find time to have sex with Addison twice in the last 7 days?"

"And play three games of tennis."

"You've played tennis with Addison more then you've screwed Addison?"

"We have rules about sex, we don't have rules about tennis."

"Rules?"

"Yes, rules."

"Like what, she can only be on top on alternate Tuesdays?"

"I rarely see her on Tuesdays."

"What are these rules?"

"She doesn't wear her engagement ring."

"I guess that would be distracting. You glance down to watch her ––"

"We'd both just rather not think about other people when we're together."

"Clearly."

"And we have an eight hour rule."

"No wonder you've only managed 2 times. When do you sleep?"

Derek shot him a look. "It's an eight hour buffer. So we aren't literally bed hopping."

"Eight hours," Mark considered that, "That's a long time."

Derek was silent a moment, "It's weird. Going between the two of them," he revealed "I'm used to… You get used to being with the same person, you know? You get into a certain mindset about being with someone familiar like that, and it's weird switching between 2 that are equally as familiar. You need the eight hours to … reset."

"Uhuh," Mark replied skeptically, "You realize that with an eight hour buffer one of them can monopolize your time with very little effort? If Addison puts her mind to it she could probably keep you out of Meredith's bed for weeks."

"She wouldn't do that," Derek smirked and gathered his things. "But, would be fun seeing her try," he winked.

"Hey," Mark called after him, "Are we really letting the girls drag us to that party."

"Not if I can help it."

XXXX

"You came!" Joanie threw her arms around Addison and Sydney at the same time and squeezed them tight despite her massive belly, "I didn't think you would."

"We rearranged somethings," Derek explained leaning down to kiss her cheek.

"Good," she squealed, "I'll go get Rob, he'll take your coats. I'm not suppose to lift anything," she winked at Addison as she sashayed off.

"She's also not suppose to drink, but she has a glass of wine in her hand," Sydney pointed out.

"I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she's holding that for someone."

"Ummm, ladies," Mark spoke from behind them, "What kind of party is this?"

"Joanie's orchestra friends are in town."

"Then what's this?" Derek held up a bowl of keys.

Addison's eye's grew round.

"Hey," Sydney's eyes lit up, "Cool."

"Maybe they don't want people drinking and driving," Addison protested.

"What have you told her about us?" Mark asked his wife, amused and curious.

"I'm sure they're not… you know…" Addison protested again, "She's 9 months pregnant. She's due in 2 weeks."

Derek smirked at Mark, "You going to throw your keys in?"

"Oh!"

The foursome turned to see Joanie standing behind them.

"Sorry," she grabbed the bowl of key's from Derek's hands and placed it back on the table, "Don't worry about that. That's for later, these parties can go all night. I mean unless you want to play. It's up to you."

"Joanie," Addison exclaimed, "You're pregnant! You can't… swing…"

Joanie laughed, "I'm not," she chuckled, "I'm just going to watch. Come on in, I want you to meet some people."

XXXX

"I feel like everyone is looking at me," Addison stepped closer to Derek who was tucked tightly into the corner of the room.

"They're hoping you pick their keys."

"Not funny," she smacked him hard on the chest, "Can we go soon?"

"It's only 10:30."

"We can go to the trailer for awhile," she pouted, her eyes pleading and teasing at the same time.

"If it's sex you want we might as well stay here."

Her jaw dropped slightly and her eyes sparkled mischievously, "You're right. Imagine what these musician men can do with their fingers."

Derek chuckled and picked up her hand and kissed the smooth skin on top, "Let's go."

"Should we get Mark and Sydney?"

"They'll find their own way home."

XXXX

"It's cold," Derek flexed his hands against the frigid air as he slammed shut the door of his car.

"The grass has frost on it," Addison stepped around the front the car and reached out her hand for his.

"The trailer might have been a bad idea," he reflected as they crossed the deck hand in hand and he unlocked the door, "It's going to take a while to warm up."

She grinned and stepped ahead of him through the door, "I'll keep you warm," she promised tugging him after her as she walked backwards down the length of the trailer. Dropping his hand she dragged her fingertips up the lapels of her jacket and slowly rotated her shoulders as she slide it off and dropped it to the ground.

"Now, how," he walked towards her as she continued to back towards the bed, "Are you planning on keeping us warm if you're taking off your clothes?"

"I have a plan."

"You have a plan?"

"Uhuh," she grinned and reached for his hand again. She tugged him towards her firmly, taking advantage of his willingness to move towards her to land him on the bed instead of into her arms. She smiled down on him then crawled up on to the bed leaning over him her face so close he could feel her breath warm and moist on his neck. She leaned away, locking eyes with him, before kissing him; parted lips softly caressing parted lips. Slowly she slid back down his body, the ends of her hair tickling his cheeks.

He moaned softly and dragged his hands down her chest, outlining her breast with the very tips of his fingers before flicking his fingers over the buttons of her dress.

"Ah, ah," Addison sat up, "No touching."

"Well, then this isn't going to work."

Addison raised an eyebrow, "Give me your hands." He obediently placed his hands in hers and she wrapped her fingers around his hands. She brought their hands to her lips and gently kissed his hands, occasionally letting the tip of her tongue run over the pads of his fingers. She held his hands firmly and pressed them into the mattress above his head, "Are you going to behave yourself now?"

"Probably not," he grinned, leaning up to kiss her.

She clucked her tongue disapprovingly, "Behave. Or I'll have to hold you down," she warned. She slid her body back down his, touching her lips delicately to his throat. She took her time tasting the skin of his neck, tracing his adams apple and pulse with her tongue and nipping at the hollow at the base. Untangling one hand from above his head she undid the top button of his shirt and continued leisurely kissing the skin of his chest, not undoing another button until her lips and tongue had touched every inch that she'd uncovered. "Now," she murmured breathily in his ear, "I need my hands. Can you promise not to move?"

He nodded weakily, his eyes hazy with lust.

She grinned and bit down on his earlobe before sitting up and swiftly undoing his belt and tugging off his pants. He lay there, watching her through heavily lidded eyes, tracing her movements appreciatively. Her skin flushed and her blood tingled hotly deep in her veins. She crawled over him and dragged her hand over his stomach, slowly rocking her hips back and forth until he moaned loudly and reached for her on pure instinct. "Sit up," she ordered, her voice husky with want.

He allowed her to trail his shirt off his shoulders then immediately fused their mouths together and kissed her hard, his hards gripping her hips and pressing her tightly to him/

"Mmm," she groaned, "You aren't suppose to be touching me, This is suppose to be about you."

"But I want to touch you," his hands touched her face and pushed her hair out of her face as he slid his lips against hers again before trailing them down her jaw, "I love touching you."

She smiled and drug her fingers across the stubble on his cheek, "Well it would be mean to stop you then."

"Arms up," he instructed his hands already bunching her dress at her waist. She complied and he swept it over her head and tossed it off the bed, "My turn."

XXXX

"Derek?"

"What?" he called back over the rushing water of the shower.

"Nothing," she sighed. She sat on the edge of the bed and fiddled with her shoes as she slipped them on.

"What?" he asked again opening the door and leaning out.

"I was just wondering if Mark and Sydney made it home all right."

"What is it Addison?"

"Nothing," she repeated, "I don't know," she stood and leaned against the wall beside the shower, "I just don't know how much longer I can do this."

Derek straightened his shoulders slightly and studied her face.

"Geoffrey wants to get married soon and I'd rather not start our marriage by being unfaithful."

"Sure," Derek shrugged his shoulders in an attempt at indifference, "Whatever you want."

"You know this isn't what I want Derek," she smiled softly, not fooled by his act. She leaned in and kissed him good-bye, "I'll see you at work tomorrow."

XXXX

"I can't believe you left us at a swingers party."

Addison giggled under her breath, "You looked like you were having fun."

"We were, but you don't just leave your friends at swingers parties."

Addison continued to laugh under her breath.

"So we've decided not to tell you what happened after you left. You don't deserve the gossip."

"That's not fair," Addison protested, "I introduced her to you."

"Which led to all this… swinging," she lowered her voice even more, "Not everyone likes sharing their sexual partners, Addison."

"I don't like it," she muttered.

"You sure?," Sydney teased, "Maybe you should introduce Geoff and whats-her-face to Joanie's lifestyle," she nodded to Meredith who was sitting not to far away with Derek, "Might make things easier."

Addison eyed her, "You did it didn't you. That's just… As your _doctor…_"

"I did not. God, husband-swap? No thank you. But, we made some new friends, and I got invited upstairs," Sydney grinned, "By another woman."

"No."

" And then her husband. Oh yes. And when I pointed out my husband she suggested a foursome."

Addison laughed out loud, covering her mouth with her hand when people started staring at her, and resting her arm against the wall to steady herself.

"So Mark considers it for a moment until this other guy touches my breast –– kind of a bold move –– and Mark realized that he wouldn't be the only guy and he turned them down."

Addison continued to laugh, her stomach starting to ache.

"So, we went to the bathroom to talk about the situation you got us in –– and if Joanie mentions a broken bottle of cologne then you know nothing about it, it must have broken and been hastily cleaned up on its own –– and then things started to get out of control, so––"

"That's when things go out of control?"

"Well, I guess there had been a game of strip poker –– which Joanie lost, even pregnant she has no inhibitions –– and before we were propositioned there were games of spin the bottle and suck and blow, with a few variations, going on. Surprisingly, it actually didn't seem like a lot of people were having sex. A lot of kissing."

"I can't believe you stayed."

"I can't believe you didn't tell us you were leaving."

"Well, you seem to have enjoyed yourself," Addison shot back.

"It was hot!" Sydney exclaimed, "Mark practically molested me in the cab on the way home, it was a sexually charged environment, but those are super unhealthy relationships those couples have. I don't want to watch other women pawing over my husband. He's mine. I do the pawing. And a few of them have kids. I mean, maybe it's because I have kids and I think they are special and evidence of _us_, but why would you want to engage in the same activities that got you your kids with someone that you don't even care about? Maybe I'm to emotionally invested in babies and the baby-making process right now, but that just does not appeal to me at all. I mean if you're married or in a relationship, it's not just sex. Those people are ruining the best part."

"Yeah," Addison agreed softly. She looked over at Derek and Meredith who were laughing and sharing a muffin. She flipped open her cell and paged Derek. She smiled at Sydney, "I need to get to my rounds.

_5233673_

Derek chuckled. Addison had just paged him from about ten feet away.

Meredith picked up his pager and glanced at the display. "You'd think they'd learn by now that they have the wrong number."

"You'd think," he kissed her forehead, "I have to get upstairs. I'll see you later?"

She nodded and watched him head down the hall –– catching up with Addison halfway to the elevators.

Derek smiled at her but didn't say anything until they were alone in the elevator.

The doors closed around them and she stepped over to him, cupped his jaw and kissed him.

He grinned, "What was that for?"

"I just had an urge."

XXXX

"Why are you making my life so hard? Why? Why?"

Meredith stepped further into the locker room. Addison stood at the far end her blouse in her hand, dabbing at it with wet paper towel. "Problems?"

Addison looked up at Meredith and paused a moment before replying, "I got lipstick on my collar."

"Scandal," Meredith opened up Derek's locker, "Who's lipstick?"

Addison chuckled, "Mine."

"You shouldn't put on your lipstick before getting dressed."

"It wasn't my idea to have to get dressed again," Addison smirked.

"I thought Derek had a stain stick," Meredith slammed the door to his locker, "Sorry."

"Oh," Addison's face lit up, "I stole that last week," she pointed to her locker, "It's on the top shelf."

Meredith reached into Addison's already open locker and handed her the stain stick.

"Is Derek's family staying with you?"

"No. We don't have a downstairs bathroom for Anna's wheelchair so they staying at a hotel," Meredith picked up a bottle of perfume from Addison's locker and sniffed if, "This is nice," she glanced at the name, "_J_'_addore_?"

Addison glanced at her, her eyebrow raising slightly, "J'adore is french for 'I adore' but since my name is A-D-D…"

"Oh," Meredith smiled, "Geoff is so sweet."

"Ya," Addison smiled and took the perfume from Meredith's hand and spritzed some on her neck, "He is."

XXXX

"What's Laura like?"

Meredith glanced at Sydney and shrugged, "She's funny. Quick. I don't think she likes me so I haven't really talked to her much. Her and Derek are really close. They look alike. It's weird."

"What does she look like?"

"Tall, dark hair, blue eyes. Seriously she looks like Derek but female and really hot. You'll meet her at dinner tonight."

"I know," Sydney sighed, "It's oddly surreal meeting the woman your husband lost his virginity too. Like, should I thank her?"

"Mark lost his virginity to Derek's sister?"

Sydney nodded, "When they were 17, her prom. What if she hates me?"

"It's weird to think of Mark having a first. I just assumed he was born like that. Or his first time was with a Chinese prostitute when he was 11."

"Apparently she corrupted him sexually," Sydney chewed on her lip absently, "How am I suppose to compete with the first love of his life."

"At least you aren't competing with Addison."

"True," Sydney said slowly, not really thinking about what she was saying.

Meredith chuckled, "Thanks."

"Mark!"

Sydney turned her head as she heard Derek calling her husband. Within seconds she saw Derek with a teenager in a wheelchair and a woman with a slight limp. Seconds later Mark came into view, paused, then scooped up the woman into his arms and hugged her so tightly her feet left the ground. He set her down and kissed her cheek, then hugged her again. Meredith walked over to join them as Mark hugged the girl in the wheel chair, but at her appearance he looked up and saw Sydney hanging back.

"Hey," he jogged over and grabbed her hand, locking their fingers together, "Come on." He grinned leading them back over to Derek's family, "This is Sydney," he beamed proudly, "This is my niece Anna. And this," he grinned, "Is Laura."

Sydney and Laura sized each other up. Head to toe. Blue eyes piercing green. Sydney dropped Marks hand determinedly, "It's so great to meet you! Can I hug you?" She hugged her tightly but briefly,"This is so exciting," then stepped back to Mark's side, grinning as his arm settled around her shoulders. She stepped closer, fitting into his side, ignoring Laura's piercing blue stare studying them.

"You need to see the girls," Mark grinned, "We'll bring them over to the house tonight. They are the most beautiful babies."

"I have to see it to believe it," Laura teased, "I can't picture you holding a baby let alone fathering twins."

Marks eyes twinkled, "Well, believe it. We're having another," his fingertips affectionately skimmed over Sydney's neck.

"Mark," Sydney admonished softly, blushing gently.

"I'm excited," he kissed her temple, "June 8th," he announced, "But, just one this time."

Sydney smiled, still slightly shy around Mark's 'family', "I made Addison check the ultrasound three times to make sure. If it's a boy I can only handle one; especially if he's anything like his father. Can you imagine?"

"No," Laura smiled her lips pursed together as she watched Mark, "But, Sloan men are a handful."

XXXX

"Can I have the rest of your milkshake."

Anna shot Addison a look, "No. Can I have your daiquiri?"

"Are you 21?"

"No."

"Then no."

"Hey girls," Derek slid into the booth beside Addison and stole one of Anna's fries. "Thanks Monkey."

Addison shot him a look but didn't say anything.

"No Meredith?" Laura questioned.

"She's in surgery right now. She'll join us for dinner."

"I'm going to the bathroom," Anna looked to Derek, "Can you keep Addison away from my milkshake."

"I'll wrestle her away if I have too."

Addison, Derek and Laura watched Anna wheel away.

"She adjusted well," Addison observed.

"Yeah," Laura nodded, "She's determined to get her license before she graduates. And she has a boyfriend. Of course I don't officially know about him, but I hear things."

"The secret boyfriends. They making having teenage girls so much more interesting."

"Yours too?"

"Usually two at a time."

Laura shook her head, "It's so weird hearing you talk about having teenagers."

Addison laughed, Derek shifted slightly and rested his arm along the back of the bench behind Addison.

"Although it's not as weird as Mark with all those babies."

"Aww," Addison smiled, "I think it's cute."

"That woman is insane."

"She reminds me of you," Derek quipped, reaching over and taking a large gulp of Anna's milkshake.

"Don't do that," Addison exclaimed.

"What?"

"She's going to think it was me that stole her milkshake."

"So."

"So. It wasn't."

Derek took another drink.

"Stop," she smacked him, laughing as he grinned impishly, "Quit it."

"You guys are sleeping together aren't you," Laura asked from the other side of the table.

"No!" they exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yes, you are!"

"No, we aren't," Derek protested.

"I didn't think you were until you denied it. Oh my God. You're sleeping together!" Laura glanced between the two of them, her eyes teasing, "Mom is going to be so pissed."

"Don't tell mom," Derek sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, "Or Kathleen. I'm begging you not to tell Kathleen."

"Derek!" Addison exclaimed.

Laura's eyes widened in surprise.

"She was _kidding, _You _idiot_. You just _told her_!"

"She knew."

"She did not," Addison buried her face in her hands, "Have you met Laura. That's how she jokes. God Derek."

Laura shook her head, "You're an idiot. You both are. Idiots."

XXXX

Ali wandered aimlessly up and down the hospital corridor.

"Are those _Betsey Johnson_ pumps?"

Ali glanced down at her feet, "Yeah."

"I'm so jealous," Anna wheeled closer, "My mother would never let me wear those."

Ali bit her lip to stop herself from speaking but didn't quite succeed, "Well, it's not like you have to walk in them."

Anna's face lit up, "Hey, true. I'm definitely getting a pair."

"Do you want to try them on?" Ali plunked herself down on the floor and slid the shoe off her foot and on to Anna's, "My dad's girlfriend bought them for me for my birthday. She's always buying us ridiculous things like shoes my dad can't stand."

"I have an aunt like that."

"Hey girls," Addison greeted them, not surprised that they had found each other, "Nice shoes."

"I brought your keys," Ali held the car keys over her head so that Addison could take them.

"Thanks," Addison nodded to Anna, "I see you met my niece. Anna. This is my… Ali."

Anna and Ali studied each other with renewed interest.

"I'm her future step-daughter," Ali supplied.

Addison beamed. "Well," she couldn't stop grinning, "Anna and I were just going to go shopping, but why don't you guys go. I think your styles might be more compatible."

The girls eyed each other again.

"Sure," Ali shrugged, "Can I have the car back?"

"Yes," Addison rolled her eyes and handed back the keys, "And you can take this," she reached into her purse and pulled out a credit card, "Don't go crazy with this. It's your Uncle Derek's. If you get caught, I had nothing to do with it."

XXXX

"So, baby brother," Laura sat down next to her brother on the porch swing. Everyone else was inside drooling over the Sloan twins but Laura had decided she needed a word alone with her brother, "How did you get yourself into this mess."

"Did you tell Kathleen?"

"Of course," she swatted him upside the head, "That's from her."

Derek didn't move, didn't even flinch.

"Can I just ask you one question and then I'll never bring it up again."

Derek nodded dumbly.

"Why?" she demanded.

He sighed, "I don't know. It just happened one night. And then I wanted it to happen again."

Laura was silent.

"It was my idea. I talked her into it."

"I'm going to have to hit you again," Laura turned to face him instead of staring straight ahead, "Do you love her? Addison?"

"I've loved Addison since… about 10 hours after I met her. Loving her was never the problem."

"Then what is the problem?"

"I love Meredith. I really love her. We're happy. After Mark.. it hurts so much to love Addison; Loving Meredith, it makes me happy."

"Then you need to stop."

"I know."

XXXX

"Do you know?"

Mark glanced up at Laura as she sat down beside him on the step leading to the screened in porch at the back of Derek and Meredith's house. "Know what?"

Laura didn't saw anything, just looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh that," Mark nodded, "How'd you find out?"

"I was kidding around and Derek begged me not to tell Mom," Laura smiled slightly, "What do you think?"

Mark sighed, "I think I get it. I don't like it, but I get it." Mark rubbed the back of the baby sleeping against his chest, adjusting her blanket carefully, "I can't imagine not being with Syd. Or having her there but not being with her –– I couldn't do it." He kissed the baby's cheek, "I'd rather share her then not have her at all."

Laura nodded and stared up at the stars, "What about with me?"

Mark rested his chin on top of the baby's head.

"What if I'm that person for you?"

"I love my wife."

"But we always find our way back to each other. We're Mark and Laura."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Okay. So the next chapter is the last chapter off all. It's already written so I'll probably post it tomorrow or Wednesday. And I love it. Love Love Love.

Okay, leave me reviews so I have something nice to come home to incase I bomb this interview for the job I really want/need.

Analysis to death. I dare you.

Review.


	7. Cologne

Okay, here is the last chapter and quite possibly my favorite ever.

Enjoy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Derek checked his pager. This was definitely the room he was paged too. He also knew that this was a private room reserved for one of Mark's patients, and it was currently empty.

Interesting.

He walked through the door and looked around. The lights were out, the curtains were drawn, but it was the middle of the morning so the room was still bright.

The door closed quietly behind him and he instantly felt a pair of arms encircle his chest and start unbuttoning his shirt.

"Hi," he chuckled.

"Happy Birthday," she whispered, nuzzling her lips against his earlobe.

"Umm, what are you doing?"

"What does it seem like I'm doing?"

"Seems like you are trying to get us in a lot of trouble."

"It's your birthday," she nipped at his neck, rather hard, "We are exempt."

"I'm exempt,_ you_ can still get in trouble. " he moved away and turned to look at her, "_What_ are you wearing?"

Addison smiled a struck a pose, "It's your birthday present."

"It's your lab coat."

She narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice, "Well you have to unwrap it."

"Mmm," he leaned against the bed and crossed his arms "Go ahead."

She smiled at him and reached for the first button, undoing it agonizingly slow. Forty-five seconds later she had barely moved on to the second one.

"Ok," he groaned impatient, "Come here." Within seconds he had all the buttons undone, he held her at arms length and admired, "Happy Birthday to me."

"Do you like it?" She placed a hand on her hip, showing off her navy sheer, lacy, barely-there ensemble and her extremely sexy heels.

"Were you wandering around the hospital like that?"

"I had it buttoned up."

"You are going to be fired by the end of the day."

"Then you better make this worth it," she murmured nipping at his lower lip.

"Is that a challenge?" he questioned, letting her push him back further onto the bed.

"Yes," she laughed as he grabbed the back of her legs and dragged her with him, almost causing them both to loose their balanced.

"I like these beds," Derek murmured against her lips, attempting to simultaneously push her lab coat off her shoulders and gather it at her waist.

Addison struggled against the coat, Derek's impatience was just incapacitating her arms, and she was having a hard time balancing on her knees, "We should play with the different settings later," she teased as she finally freed an arm and used it to balance herself against the bed, conveniently already in an upright position.

The door swung open.

Derek and Addison froze, and then glanced guiltily at the door.

Mark stared at them a moment before smirking, "I thought that 40 was golf clubs not redheads, I'm going to have to make some returns," he shook his head and reached for the doorknob, "No, don't get up, I'll just lock this for you," he smirked again, bowing out of the room.

XXXX

"Happy birthday," Meredith grinned and kissed him softly.

"Thank you," Derek kissed her again and went back to changing.

"So, I was thinking I would take you out to dinner tonight." Meredith suggested coquettishly, picking up the sweater he dropped on the floor. Confusion clouded her features for a moment as she noticed an unfamiliar scent mingled with his cologne.

"Where do you want to go?" Derek spoke quickly, breaking her concentration.

"How about I make reservations and surprise you?" she teased as she folded the sweater and handed it back to him.

"I'm looking forward to it." he smiled at her and brushed some hair out of her face.

"Okay," she grinned, "I'm making early reservations so we can do something special for dessert."

Derek's face lit up at the idea as he watched her back out of the room. Chuckling to himself he finished dressing and crossed over to the door to the women's showers. "Addison?" he called knocking on the door.

"Yeah?" she called back.

He opened the door an inch so she could hear him better. "Don't put on that perfume okay."

She was silent a moment. "_Seriously_?"

"Come on, Addison. It's either that or I go to the dry cleaner everytime I see you."

"Fine," she gave in dejectedly.

"Thanks," he paused, "Are you mad?"

"No," she turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her before going over to stand on the other side of the door from him, "I just sometimes forget that I'm sharing you. I forget that it's not just us, and then you ask me no to wear perfume and I remember that you aren't really mine."

XXXX

"_Now you've found that persons thats right, But your spouse won't go without a fight?_" Izzie sang under her breath.

Meredith and Cristina exchanged looks and smiled, but kept silent.

Izzie continued singing her 50's inspired jingle " _Call James Addams, Attorney at Law,_

_We promise that you won't take the fall. So have your torrid affairs, Without a care_."

Cristina burst out laughing. "What are you singing?"

Izzie blushed, "It's in my head," she whined, "It's been like 3 days. It's just so damn catchy."

"That's a real song?" Meredith laughed, "That's horrible."

"It's a commercial. I hate it. Hate it. It's on all the time."

"Really?" Cristina pushed, "I've never heard it. And all I do lately is watch TV. Callie is oddly loud."

"Oddly? I always assumed she'd be a screamer," Meredith chewed the end of her pen pensively.

"No. Not a screamer. More like an animalistic grunter. It's weird. Hence, the TV."

Izzie continued to hum her jingle.

"Sing the torrid affair part again," Meredith requested with a grin, "It's my favorite part."

Izzie laughed, "_So have your torrid affairs, Without a care. Just remember : __a-d-d-a-m-e-s__. We'll get you out without a mess, Call: 2-3-3-2-6-3-7. 2-3-3-2-6-3-7. 2-3-3-2-6-3-7_"

Meredith fell silent. 2-3-3… 2-3-3…

" _Just remember : a-d-d-a-m-e-s. We'll get you out without a mess._"

"Oh my God," Meredith's hand flew up to cover her mouth. Her mind was starting to spin and her stomach felt like it was full of bile and a very heavy rock. "Cris. phone."

Cristina handed Meredith her cell phone and continued to joke around with Izzie.

Meredith stared hard at the keypad. A-2, D-3, D-3, 0-5, R-7, E-3… _Addore- 233573. JADDORE 5233573. _

She carefully, her hands were shaking violently, dialed Derek's pager number, then the familiar 'wrong number' she had been seeing on his pager for years now.

She closed her eyes and prayed she was wrong.

10 feet away Addison's cell rang and she answered it with a quick glance at the Caller ID and a smile. "Hi. –– No. I didn't… weird. My phone must page you automatically now. –– No. I'm not busy. Want to have lunch? –– No, actual lunch. Food." She glanced around, turning away when she saw Meredith standing nearby. "I've got to go. –– Yup. I'll see you later." She flipped her phone closed and gave Meredith a friendly smile before disappearing down the hall.

"Cristina? I'm going to throw up."

XXXX

"Okay," Cristina paced back and forth. "We need proof."

Meredith shook her head. "I don't need it. I know." Her head was spinning so fast she didn't even know what she was agreeing too.

"We should go through this locker, follow him. We should ask Alex if he knows anything."

"Alex left already," Izzie said quietly, "With Callie. For that thing," she looked at Cristina earnestly.

Cristina spun the dial on Derek's locker carefully then slowly back and forth until the lock clicked open.

"How did you do that?" Izzie asked in awe.

"My mother used to lock up the liquor," Cristina flung open the door, "Okay. Let's do this."

"Actually," Izzie looked at Meredith apologetically, "I might know something."

"What?'" Cristina demanded.

"Well, for awhile, like a long time ago, I kinda thought that maybe… but then I followed her one day and they just played scrabble so… "

"Why did you think that they were?"

"Well, Callie said something about Meredith and Derek almost catching her and Mark that time, but I had been with Meredith and it was Addison that told me where Mark was so…"

"And you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't know if there was anything to tell, thats why I followed her. And then Meredith was pregnant so it seemed better not to say anything."

"Shit Izzie. That Halloween bullshit was 2 years ago."

"I know!" Izzie exclaimed bouncing around and shaking her hands, "But they played scrabble and then she left for New York for the weekend."

"Did you follow her when she left?"

"No."

"Then how do you know she really left and didn't just pop over to the corner store for a giant box of condoms so she could screw Meredith's boyfriend all weekend?"

"I don't know," Izzie continued to move around frantically, walking circles around Meredith who was sitting dumbly on the bench, "I don't know."

Cristina shook her head in frustration, "Okay," she started pulling things out of the locker. "Toiletries, hair stuff, more hair stuff… okay –– did you ever thing he might be gay?"

"Cristina!" Izzie exclaimed.

"Sorry," Cristina tugged a bag out of the bottom of the locker, "Gym stuff, no, tennis stuff. Does McUnfaithful play tennis?"

Meredith shook her head, understanding still slowly filtering from her brain to her heart, "Addison does."

Izzie and Cristina exchanged looks. Izzie sat down on the bench beside Meredith and tentatively put her arm around her. Meredith didn't even seem to notice.

Cristina kept rummaging through his locker. She found nothing especially convicting, cologne, some pictures of Meredith, a schedule of who was on call, surgical journals. And a picture of Addison holding a puppy. She held up the picture.

"That could be nothing," Izzie said unconvincingly, "You showed me that picture a few months ago, remember, when you were going through their picture albums? It's a nice picture of her. It probably just got left behind when you were putting things back in the album and he didn't want to loose it."

Meredith stood and walked over to stand in front of Derek's open locker door. "Can you open Addison's locker," she requested dully as she reached for Derek's sweater. She studied it for a moment then brought it to her face and inhaled deeply. "Pass me the perfume on the top shelf." She stared at them both for a moment and then handed them to Cristina, "Is that the same?"

Cristina tentatively sniffed the perfume and then the sweater, "I'm sorry Mer."

"I paged him with that word. J'Addore. He called Addison," her voice broke, "I need to go somewhere and cry."

XXXX

Addison slipped her scrub top over her head and stood in front of the window for a long moment letting the cold air cool her skin after a long and stressful surgery.

"Hey," Derek walked through the door and sat on the lower bunk, "I was waiting for you to get out of the OR. I want to talk to you."

"Not now, I'm over it," she smiled unconvincingly, "And now I'm going to take a nap and then go over to your place to decorate for your surprise party."

"You suck at surprises."

"I think we have enough surprises in our day to day life without adding parties to that list."

Derek chuckled, "Come here." he reached out for her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing his lips lightly to her navel he then looked up at her, "When am I getting my birthday present?"

She chuckled, "I don't know, it's getting kinda late now. I thought I'd be nice and let Meredith have you for the night."

"That's not fair," he grumbled, "Tease."

"Hey, I tried this morning," she leaned down and kissed him, "Your best friend ruined it."

He sighed and tugged at the side of her scrubs so he could see the edge of his birthday panties against her hip.

"Although, we could just do other stuff…"

"Like what?"

" I dunno," she teased sliding down to sit on his knee, "What do you want, birthday boy?"

XXXX

George backed further into his corner between the printer and a tall stack of files. He wasn't hiding exactly, but he was working with Heron-Sloan on a case and she was in a spectacularly bad mood. He'd heard rumours that she was pregnant, so maybe it was hormones, but he had no intention of running into her between now and when she left for the day, which his watch told him was 10 minutes from now. Plus, her husband was standing just on the other side of a cart of medical supplies and George didn't want him telling his wife where to find him.

"Are you ready to go?"

George heard Sydney's voice and shrank back even more.

"Yup."

"Okay. We just need to grab Addison, she taking a nap."

George heard a door open.

"Oh God. Hi…. Don't worry I'm not looking. In fact, I think I'm blind."

George craned his neck to see, but couldn't see past Sydney standing in the doorway.

"She's going to take her own car," Sydney told Mark moments later, "Once she finishes up in there. I just saw more of Derek then I ever wanted too."

"Did you lock the door? Because I walked in on them this morning, and since we're both leaving they may not be so lucky next time."

"I'm not enabling them today."

"Grumpy," Mark teased, "Let's go."

George sat for a long moment staring blankly straight head.

"Locks are so simple."

George shrank back again as he heard Addison and Derek emerge from the on-call room.

"And yet we always forget them."

"Which is why we have rules about the hospital." There was a slight pause, 'Okay, I'm going to pick up Geoffrey, and I'll see you at your party."

George stood suddenly, but they were gone.

He tried to speak but no sounds came out.

_Seriously?_

XXXX

"Meredith," Cristina tightened her grip on Meredith's waist, "Come on. I'm going to take you home. You need to shower."

Meredith trembled, her knee's giving out slightly.

"Where are your key's? Mer, come on people are going to think you're drunk."

"I don't care," Meredith cried, "I wish I was. I can't… why…. he…" She tore herself away from Cristina and marched determinedly across the parking lot, digging through her purse as she went.

"I don't think so," Cristina jogged after her, "You aren't driving. You're a mess."

"I'm fine," Meredith protested slumping against her car.

"You've cried so much you've thrown up. Twice. Give me your purse." Cristina ripped the bag out of Meredith's hand and watched her slump to the ground and rest her head against the tire.

"Hey," George ran over, stopping short when he saw Meredith sitting on the ground crying, "What's wrong."

"What do you want George?" Cristina continued to search for the keys.

"I just… I saw… heard, something and I ––" he looked at Meredith uncertainly, "Someone walked in on Dr. Montgomery and Derek in an on-call room… doing… you know… "

Meredith instantly started to sob, crumpling into herself and laying completely on the ground.

"Christ," Cristina exclaimed, finally finding the keys, "I just want to key that arrogant assholes car," she stared at Derek's car, parked right next too Meredith's, her grip tightened on the keys.

Meredith began to gasp, her sobs preventing her from breathing. Cristina knelt next to her and carefully lifted her from the ground and leaned against the car with her, her arms around her.

"It's hurts," Meredith sobbed, clutching her chest.

"I know," Cristina soothed as she rubbed her back.

"Meredith? Meredith! What's wrong?" Derek appeared from no where and moved in to lift her into his arms.

Meredith instantly flew into a rage. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screamed, pushing him away from her and accidently elbowing Cristina in the eye, "YOU BASTARD! YOU… YOU… " she pushed her self off the ground, "YOU SLEPT WITH HER!" she screamed her voice becoming shrill.

Derek took a step back with the accusation. "What are you talking about?" he asked calmly, his heart beating wildly in his chest.

"I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW YOU WERE WITH HER! I HATE YOU! THOSE STUPID PAGES AND THE PERFUME AND…" she grabbed her keys from where they had fallen to the ground, "GEORGE SAW YOU WITH HER!" she screamed.

"Meredith," Derek grabbed her arm, "Let me explain––"

"LET GO OF ME!" Meredith pulled her arm forcefully from his grasp and threw open the door of her car, closing and locking it before anyone had time to stop her. She hit the steering wheel hard with her fists still screaming and crying before finally fitting the key and the ignition.

"MEREDITH!" Derek yelled banging on the windows, "MEREDITH OPEN THE DOOR!"

She threw the car in reverse and barely missed a car parked behind her. Speeding out of the parking lot she jumped the curb turning towards home.

"Shit," Derek exclaimed under his breath. Within seconds he was in his car and chasing after her.

XXXX

"Do you think we have enough decorations?" Addison tied off the end of a balloon and handed it to Callie who was standing above her on a ladder.

"Alex delegated decorations to Sydney, so now Meredith's living room looks like the inside of a confetti cannon," Callie batted some streamers out of her face, "Hey, is it true that she's pregnant?"

"Uhuh," Addison nodded and handed her another balloon, "3 months."

"Those twins are barely a year old."

"Yeah," Addison smiled as Geoffrey joined them, "I think that breast-feeding as birth control failed the Sloans."

"Well, they look happy," Geoffrey smiled at Sydney and Mark who were setting out the food but mostly helping themselves to samples, "Alex and I are finally done with the streamers."

"What other gossip am I missing," Callie asked.

"Well, if you and Alex would come up for air once in awhile, you'd know." Addison teased as her phone rang.

"It's all we have in common. I don't get why you like him so much." Callie looked towards the window as a car door slammed outside.

"Alex is a great guy," Addison protested, temporarily ignoring the phone in her hand, "I love Alex."

The front door flew open and Meredith burst in flinging her purse across the floor. She turned and blankly took in the people decorating her living room for the surprise party she had planned.

Meredith and Addison's eyes locked.

Addison's phone rang, breaking the silence that had fallen on the room.

"It's Derek," Meredith said coldly, "He's trying to warn you that I know."

Addison took a stunned stepped back.

"What's she talking about?" Geoff asked slowly, already fearing the answer.

Another car door slammed outside and seconds later Derek rushed in the door, "MEREDITH." He stopped short when he saw the people standing in the living room, "Meredith," he tried again.

"GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! TAKE YOUR _WHORE_ AND GET OUT OF MY _HOUSE! I HATE YOU! _I HATE YOU. I _HATE YOU_! WE WERE GOING TO GET MARRIED! THERE ARE CONTRACTORS COMING ON MONDAY TO ADD A PEICE ONTO OUR HOUSE. WE WERE GOING TO TRY TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY! WHY? WHY? WHY HER?"

"MEREDITH," Derek stepped towards her. "Let me explain. I love you. It's not what you think."

"YOU HAD SEX WITH HER! YOU SLEPT WITH HER! FOR TWO YEARS YOU'VE BEEN CHEATING ON ME WITH HER! WITH _HER_! YOU HAD SEX WITH HER AT JOE'S WHEN I WAS OUTSIDE WITH MY FRIENDS. YOU WERE SLEEPING WITH HER WHEN I WAS PREGNANT _WITH YOUR CHILD_! YOU WERE SLEEPING WITH HER WHEN OUR DAUGHTER WAS _DYING_! WHAT IS THERE TO EXPLAIN DEREK?"

"_Meredith_! _Listen to me!" _Derek exclaimed again, "_It's not," _he took a deep breath, "It's not what you think. Meredith, I love you. I love you––"

"Then tell me that it's not true."

Derek hesitated.

"Addison," Geoffrey spoke quietly from behind her, "Is it true?"

Tears burned in the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I HATE YOU!" Meredith screamed, her fists pounding on Derek's chest as he tried to reason with her.

"Geoffrey," Addison reached out to grab his arm, "I'm sorry. I never meant to––"

"Was our baby mine?"

The room fell silent again. Derek and Meredith turned towards them in surprise.

"You _didn't even use PROTECTION?_" Meredith yelled, hitting him again.

"Geoffrey," tears began trailing down Addison's cheeks, "Don't do this. Not right now."

Geoffrey squared his jaw and reached for her purse, "I'm leaving."

"Geoffrey, no," Addison grabbed at her purse and tried to pull it out of his grasp, "Don't do this. Don't," she pleaded tugging on his arm desperately, "Don't leave me. Geoffrey. Please. I love you. I do. It wasn't my idea. Geoffrey. It was going to be our baby. It didn't matter."

He grabbed hold of her arm, tight, "I just want to know if that baby was mine or if you lied about that too."

"I didn't know," Addison cried, "I didn't know. And then I lost… I wasn't…"

"WAS IT MINE?" he demanded again, shaking her arm hard enough that it shook her whole body. "ANSWER ME."

"Hey," Alex stepped in front of Addison, shielding her from Geoff, "Let her go. You're hurting her. She didn't know."

Geoff released his hold but never took his eyes off her, "Do you know now?" he spoken evenly.

She looked away, "I did a paternity test," she admitted.

"Was it mine?"

She took a deep breath. "No."

Geoffrey's jaw twitched with anger and he turned away. Crossing the room he punched Derek hard in the gut, then walked out the front door.

Addison's eyes barely flickered to Derek, doubled over on the floor. She stepped over him and followed Geoffrey out of the house.

"Geoff," she ran after him across the lawn, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. But Meredith makes it sound worse then it is."

Geoff tossed her purse to the ground and crossed to the drivers side door, "If you slept with him, even _once_ while we were together, then it's as bad as it sounds."

"Geoff," Addison cried, throwing her hands up and giving up. She turned away as Geoff drove away. She could still hear Meredith screaming in the house. She picked up her purse and collapsed shakily on the curb, "Oh, God," she whispered staring up at the sky, "Just kill me. Please. _Please_, just let me die."

XXXX

"Meredith?" Derek sat on the floor outside their bedroom, "Please." He rested his cheek on the door and listened for movement on the other side, "Mer?"

"Maybe you should go," George suggested from down the hall where he was standing with Cristina and Izzie.

Derek shook his head.

"She's not going to come out if you're sitting right outside the door," Cristina pointed out, "She doesn't want to see you."

Derek considered this, pressing his palm against the wood door. Finally he nodded and heaved himself off the floor, retreating to what had been Julie's nursery.

He sat down in the rocking chair, one of the few assembled pieces of furniture in the room and stared out the window. He rocked and he rocked, a picture of Meredith and Julie staring at him from the windowsill.

"She won't unlock the door until you are out of the house," Cristina spoke from the doorway, "Just go so we can make sure she's all right."

"I'll just come back tomorrow."

"Fine," Cristina exclaimed in exasperation, "I don't care about tomorrow. I care about what my heartbroken self-destructive friend is up to right now."

Derek stood, "I'm coming back tomorrow."

XXXX

If Addison could only choose one word to describe how she felt as she stepped over

the threshold of the home she shared with Geoffrey it would be trepidation.

She was nervous, nauseous and riddled with guilt; but above all she was overcome by the knowledge that her world was about to change.

And she didn't want it to.

The house was eerily silent. She glanced at her watch and realized that it was just past 2 in the afternoon. –– the girls were still at school.

She gripped the bannister tightly, her knuckles turning white, as she climbed the stairs. The weight in the pit of her stomach grew with each step down the long hall. The door to the bedroom stood open.

"I'm sorry." She spoke willing her voice to sound steadier then she felt.

Geoffrey didn't move. He was sitting on her side of the bed, his back to her, his hand resting on her pillow as he studied her things on the nightstand –– her reading glasses, a book, a few magazines, earrings and a glass of water.

She walked around the bed and stood in front of him.

He looked up at her, his face contorted with pain and misery. He made no effort to hide his tears.

Tears poured down her face as she sank to the floor. She buried her face against his lap and sobbed, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Her hands gripped his thighs, squeezing the tense muscles against her palms.

Long minutes elapsed before he reacted. His body curled around hers, his tears sliding down her neck as his arms wrapped possessively around her torso.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed again, her words becoming increasingly incoherent as her grip on him tightened.

"I love you," he spoke hoarsely; his words were an accusation void of any tenderness. "I love you so much."

"I'm sorry." Her hands slid up to his waist and attempted to wrap around him, "I love you too. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She pressed her face further into his lap, her head throbbing from the force of her sobbing.

His hands tangled in her hair as he pulled away from her. He gripped her jaw firmly and tilted her face until their eyes met. He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

"Please, Geoffrey."

His eyes flashed intensely. His lips on hers were so hard she could feel her skin bruising. Her lips pressed together against the vicious kiss, but seconds later she relented; her lips parted slowly and he gripped the back of her neck and dragged her to her feet and pressed her against the wall.

She let him kiss her how he wanted, she let him touch her how he wanted. She didn't say anything when he bit her neck a little to hard, or grabbed her breast a little to firmly. Her skin was flushed and her heart racing as he swept her up and tossed her on the bed –– knocking over everything on her nightstand in their wake. Her eye's widened in surprise; she knew he was strong, but he had lifted her as if she was nothing, and she had never seen him display that sort of power towards her.

She suddenly realized that if he wanted to hurt her he could.

He stood by the bed tugging at his belt, his actions jerky and futile, his tears still stung his eyes. She reached out to help him but he turned away stubbornly, leaving her to bite her lip and slink out of her pants on her own. He knelt on the edge of the bed and pulled her towards him by her hips. She met his eyes for a second as she spread her legs and rested her feet on the bed beside his knees. His grip tightened on her hips as he dropped one hand down to push his pants and boxers out of the way and pull her panties to the side. She shifted uncomfortably as he pushed into her.

Less then 2 minutes had passed since he had pulled her off the floor.

He thrust into her hard, his face furrowed in concentration. Her eyes closed and with every thrust a moan was forced from her belly and caught in her throat. His thrusting became more forceful and more erratic with each passing second; he braced himself against her knees as he moved inside her, but otherwise there was no contact between them. The skin all over her body burned; but she felt like she was falling without his touch to anchor her.

"Geoffrey," she murmured. He stopped abruptly and stared at her. Her eyes flicked open and she studied him for a moment.

"I think you need to go." He pulled out and instantly turned away from her.

Addison sat up slowly, her blood still tingling in her veins. She slid to the edge of the bed and reached out to touch him, but he pulled away as he sensed her movement.

"I'm just," Geoffrey walked past her, not wanting to look at her and loose his nerve, "I'm going to go pick up Daisy from school. I need to explain to her," he paused, "Why you aren't here anymore."

"Don't do this, Geoff," she pleaded, her voice catching in her throat as her tears started again. "Please. Geoffrey, I'm sorry. Don't… "

"Don't? You _did this Addison_."

"I know. I know, but it didn't mean anything. I love you. I do, I love you. He convinced me that I needed him, he didn't give me a choice. But that's not what I want. I want _you_. I need_ you_. I love _you_."

"I need you to be gone when I get back," his voice was eerily calm as he stared at the door frame. He finally turned to look her in the eye, "I'd understand if you went back to him."

"I want to be with you." She stared at her hands, her engagement ring sparkling, her eyes spilling over with tears, "Please, Geoffrey."

"I can't," he shook his head, "I can't be with you now."

XXXX

Derek stepped out of the trailer at the sound of a door slamming. He crossed the deck and reached out to help her clumsily drag an over-stuffed suitcase across the grass.

Her eyes were red and her skin blotchy as she turned and looked at him. She sighed, her chest heaving, "I need a place to stay."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So there you go.

Now. I know that some of you have a problem with the Addison/Geoff thing right at the end. And I wasn't even sure if I was going to leave it in cause I knew people would get the wrong idea. I mean it's not the happiest of things, but… okay, if you can't get past it PM me or comment or whatever and we can discuss it. But I think it was an important scene for them so I didn't want to leave it out.

So, please comment, it's my favorite chapter and I really want to know what everyone thinks.


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